Inventor Spotlight: Oluwaseyi Sosanya and his 3d Weaver Loom

The patent pending 3d Weaver is a loom designed specifically to weave three-dimensional structures using the x y and z coordinates. As a recent graduate of the Royal College of Art (RCA) we can only imagine the kind of pressure points the guy must have gone through; no wonder his first project is a dynamic shoe sole. We got a chance to get under Sosanya’s skin and this is what we discovered.

The Mindset:

Sosanya - Every woven structure is based on a binary pattern composed of 0s and 1s. These patterns determine the order in which the threads of a weave are interlaced. By rearranging these patterns, a variety of structures can be created. Looms were developed to manage the order of these patters, thus allowing us to weave textiles in large quantities. Looms work in two dimensions, therefore to create three-dimensional structures on a standard loom, a very specific pattern must be developed, and there is still a limitation of the machine.

We are in an exciting time of textile innovation with new materials, surface treatments and applications being developed each day. There is a clear space for innovation in production process that will make open new applications.

The target applications for the proposed structures center on the implementation of these fabrics in garments, footwear, and accessories that are considered casual everyday wear. There is a clear market demand for new and innovated textiles, which can be incorporated into casual daily wear. Investigating the line between military, sports wear and casual wear opens possible avenues for innovation.

Single Lace Shoe:

Sosanya - In collaboration with Footwear Designers Lixian (Lisa) Teng and Tomiwa Adeosun and leather surface design by Rozanna Walecki Shoes with soles made of a single thread. The shoe was a great application for these new structures as they were extremely flexible and could be created in any shape or form. Also through impact testing at imperials labs I discovered the material depending on the weave could withstand large force with very little permanent deformation, the soles of shoes were a great way to showcase these properties.

Another point to note is that the footwear industry are often the leaders in new textile applications and are early adopters of the more innovated textiles.

Project research and inspiration:

Sosanya - Initially titled “The Structure of Protection”, protective garments were the inspiration for the project. Garments found in sportswear and more specifically military/ballistic grade garments lead me to a deep investigation of woven materials and more specifically the structures of these weaves. In sportswear high impact garments are often made of a combination of woven textiles and knitted textiles. Direct injection expanded foam molding is often used in areas of the garment that are intended to withstand impact. After a number of impacts these materials are no longer effective. And when it comes to disposal of the garment there is a bit of a task set out for anyone who is hoping to recycle the garment.

I was interested in producing materials in a single process that could maintain the properties of these impact materials commonly used in our active wear. Looing at bulletproof garments gave me a great insight into how the stricture of woven materials can be programed to withstand extremely high impacts. A bulletproof vest is made up of several layers of woven Ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene.

Each of the layers are woven in a very precise way to and layered accordingly so that each layer can preform its intended function during the time of impact. I wanted to do this in a single woven structure with a continuous thread. Worked closely with a technical textile designer weaver Sophie Zajicek here at the Royal College of Art. I learned how to weave on a traditional handloom and got a chance to work with jacquard loom. Together we explored a number of possible structures that can be produced using traditional methods. A few structures that stood out most were some of the honeycomb weaves Sophie had developed, they were quite soft and hand large volume compared to the other materials, even better they were extremely light in weight.

I was able to take a trip to Yourkshire (the heart of the British textile industry and once the world capital of textile innovation) to visit the Textile Center of Excellence in Huddersfield. Here I got a good look at some of the most technologically advanced woven materials. These materials were all developed using custom looms or machines. What was missing was the lager volume structures I had been looking for.

It was clear to me that in order to create the structures I had in mind I would have to create a new weaving process.

Inception of the 3D Weaver:

Sosanya - With a background in mechanical engineering and the resources of Imperial College at a finger length I quickly began developing test rigs and jigs to create samples of the structures I was looking to achieve. Things began to get complicated and it became clear that I would need to develop a method for creating the structures witch would allow me to explore new ideas and directions.

The 3D Weaver was designed and built to allow freedom in three axis. With the tool I was able to explore a variety of woven structures and achieve structures I had been looking for. The machine runs on g-code, the most widely used numerical control programming language, often used in industrial CNC milling. The warp of a normal woven process is replaced with tubes (warp tube) and the weft is fed through a nozzle and pulled in tension around each tube and the g-code is being executed. Silicon and thread are joined together during the weaving process. The process is patent pending.

*Images of the uppers of the Single Lace Shoe courtesy : Footwear Designers Lixian (Lisa) Teng and Tomiwa Adeosun; Leather surface by Textile Designer Rozanna Walecki

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