Science

Geometry and Elasticity of a Knitted Fabric (Physical Review X)

Alexandre Storelli

Aug 1, 2018 • 1 min read

Pulling on a knitted scarf can stretch it to twice its length, even though the thread it’s knitted from hardly elongates. Knitting is a timeworn craft, at least a thousand years old, but no satisfactory account of the mechanics of its stretchiness exists.

New theoretical work describes how individual stitches in a knitted fabric respond to tension. The model correctly predicts how a nylon knit stretches, and it could be helpful in designing “smart materials” that can spontaneously fold into a specific shape. (...)

https://physics.aps.org/articles/v11/66
Full publication (open access) https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevX.8.021075

Read that, demolition man…

Pulling on a knitted scarf can stretch it to twice its length, even though the thread it’s knitted from hardly elongates. Knitting is a timeworn craft, at least a thousand years old, but no satisfactory account of the mechanics of its stretchiness exists.

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