Hotbed of ideas from flexible textile firm

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10 March 2004 News News

Advanced textile firm, Gorix, has become a well-known name thanks to its namesake product - the Gorix Electro-Conductive Textile (E-CT), a woven textile which through specific spinning, weaving and carbonisation, results in a material with a number of differing and exploitable applications.

Beginning 1991, inventors John Gordon and Robert Rix developed a conductive cloth as an alternative type of electrical conductor. The base material, unusually for a conductive medium, is non-metallic. In addition to forming patents around the basic composition of the fabric, patents have also been filed to cover many of the diverse end uses that are being found for the technology. Gorix has also successfully developed and produced in-house the required control circuitry to run in conjunction with the material.

The inventors found the first usable applications for the material in the field of heating; exploiting the low electrical resistance of Gorix E-CT. As work continued, a discovery was made that the electrical resistance of the material changed subject to temperature. This led to its use in temperature and pressure sensing applications. By creating laminate sandwiches of Gorix E-CT and other specific textiles, a growing number of alternative uses are being formed.

Gorix E-CT has seen interest come from many different industry sectors including the military, materials handling, space, veterinary, clothing and furniture markets. In addition, large volume uses for Gorix E-CT are now starting to come forward with particular interest being shown in the automotive and medical field.

A best friend – an infra-therm heated animal blanket developed by advanced textile company Gorix in the UK

Products that have already been created include heated hospital bedding, diving suits, a survival buoy, Infra-Therm heated animal blankets, Infra-Therm therapy systems, space exploration clothing, heated suits for those working in cold storage areas, ski clothing, and sensory fabrics. One acclaimed product is the extreme climate management (XCM) Heated Dive Suit. This product was conceived when it was realised that a dive garment that was electrically heated could replace traditional commercial dive suits that had been heated by water being sent down from a command vessel on the surface.

For more information contact Gorix, 0944 1704 512 004.

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Hotbed of ideas from flexible textile firm

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