Abstract

This paper reports the proposition and validation of the concept of innovative optical displays on textiles that used the RGB colour mode as well as surface-treated light-emitting fabrics integrated with the created polymer optical fibre (POF) materials. The POFs used were step-index optical fibres with a PMMA fibre core and a fluorinated PMMA derivative cladding. This type of structure exhibits suitable light transmission, thus overcoming the issue of leakage. The fabric structure was plain weave and the pattern of POF as the weft yarns was made of a set of three RGB colours used as a pixel unit. The colour was controlled by the RGB combination, and the light-emitting intensity was controlled by the number of notches produced through laser ablation on the POF. Weaving automatic loom machine and CO2laser machine were used to conduct experimentation and for subsequent creations. The successful creation of optical display on surface-treated light-emitting fabrics integrated with POF materials, a new design trend combined with POF materials on the basis of the RGB colour mode through laser micromachining technology resulted in innovative textiles. This in turn leads to the ultimate re-definition of art (fashion), humanities, and technology, which re-shape our culture and lifestyle and further enhance research in this area.

Keywords: Creative image display; Creative textiles; Polymer optical fibre; Laser micromachining