S34: Mechanics and Self-Assembly of Knots and Tangles: From Knitted Fabrics to Polymer Melts

Thu. March 7, 8:00 a.m. – 8:12 a.m. CST

102F

Throughout human history, the practice of using textile rings to facilitate the transport of goods (e.g. pots of water; harvested produce) atop the head has surfaced in cultures spanning vast time scales and geographic length scales. This technique is still used today predominantly by women in rural, agricultural communities. Textile rings are often fabricated by bending, twisting, and wrapping readily available materials (e.g. natural fibers in a plain weave), to form structures that distribute complex loads and conform to arbitrarily shaped objects. In this work, we study the mechanics of textile rings constructed from different fabrics and different wrapping strategies. We examine the effects of material (i.e. weaving pattern, fabric composition) and design (i.e. twists, folds) on the stiffness, conformability, and behavior of textile rings under quasistatic and dynamic loading conditions that mimic uneven terrain. We find that ring stiffness increases with the number of twists resulting in more rigid designs with low conformability which may be favorable for transporting solid objects with a curved base (e.g. baskets, containers). Softer ring designs exhibit increased conformability, which may be preferable for carrying and stabilizing non-unform loads (e.g. sugar cane, wood). These findings provide a mechanistic understanding of head-carrying textile rings, and illustrate the mechanical intuition and human ingenuity that enable women to carry up to 60% of their body weight atop their head.