Abstract-This paper describes the modeling, development, and testing of low spring index nickel titanium (NiTi) coil actuators designed for use in wearable compression garments, and presents a prototype tourniquet system using these actuators. NiTi coil actuators produce both large forces (>1 N) and large recoverable displacements (>100% length) that are well suited for compression garment design. Thermomechanical coil models are presented that describe temperature and force as a function of non-dimensionalized coil geometry, extensional strain, and applied voltage. These models suggest that low spring index coils maximize activation force, and an analytical model is presented to predict garment counter-pressure based on actuator architecture. Several low spring index (C = 3.08) coils were manufactured, annealed, and tested to assess their de-twinning and activation characteristics. Results suggest both annealing and applied stress affect activation thresholds. Actuator force increases both with extensional strain and applied voltage up to 7.24 N. A first-generation compression tourniquet system using integrated actuators with direct voltage-control of applied pressure is presented, demonstrating >70% increase in applied pressure during activation. This approach enables new, dynamic garments with controllable activation and low effort donning and doffing, with applications ranging from healthcare solutions to advanced space suit design.

Advances in actuating fabrics can enable a paradigm shift in the field of smart wearables by dynamically fitting themselves to the unique topography of the human body. Applications including soft wearable robotics, continuous health monitoring, and body‐mounted haptic feedback systems are dependent upon simultaneous body proximity and garment stiffness for functionality. Passive fabrics and fitting mechanisms are unable to conform around surface concavities and require either high elasticity or a multiplicity of closure devices to achieve garment fit. The design, manufacture, and validation of the first circumferentially contractile and topographic self‐fitting garments composed of NiTi‐based shape memory alloy (SMA) knitted actuators that dynamically conform to the unique shape and size of the wearer's body in response to a change of the garment's temperature is introduced. Advanced materials and systems innovations 1) enable novel garment manufacturing and application strategies, 2) facilitate topographical fitting (spatial actuation) through garment architectural design, and 3) provide tunable NiTi‐based SMA actuation temperatures to enable actuation on the surface of human skin. This research represents a paradigm shift for wearable applications by redefining garment fit to fully topographical conformation to the wearer through advanced materials and structures design.

Multifunctional textiles with programmable, multi‐axial, distributed, and scalable actuation are highly desirable and presently unrealized. 1D torque‐unbalanced active yarns within 2D textile structures are exploited to produce soft and scalable active textiles that exhibit tunable displacements, forces, stiffnesses, and kinematic deformations. Through a textile hierarchy spanning active material composition, yarn construction, textile geometry, and system architecture, these active textiles accomplish kinetic tunability, variable recruitment behaviors, and auxetic effects without mechanical contact, called active auxetic effects. New modes of pre‐programmed multi‐axial performance are enabled by geometrically manipulating—specifically pre‐stressing and constraining—active filaments in torsion and leveraging their structural elastic instability within a textile geometry. The new kinematic motion afforded by torque‐unbalanced active yarns enhances the performance of active textiles, which accomplish tensile strokes over 40%, generated blocked forces up to 308 N m−1, and specific work over 0.4. kJ kg−1. Advances in active textiles are demonstrated through multifunctional 3D applications, including a variable constriction pump that exhibits sequential actuation, a wearable that conforms multi‐axially around the body, and a soft exoskeleton that performs assistive motions and on‐body anchoring simultaneously. By harnessing the capabilities of active materials within a textile hierarchy, advances in the potentiality of multifunctional textiles are presented.

Many medical conditions, including sensory processing disorder (SPD), employ compression therapy as a form of treatment. SPD patients often wear weighted or elastic vests to produce compression on the body, which have been shown to have a calming effect on the wearer. Recent advances in compression garment technology incorporate active materials to produce dynamic, low bulk compression garments that can be remotely controlled. In this study, an active compression vest using shape memory alloy (SMA) spring actuators was developed to produce up to 52.5 mmHg compression on a child's torso for SPD applications. The vest prototype incorporated 16 SMA spring actuators (1.25 mm diameter, spring index = 3) that constrict when heated, producing large forces and displacements that can be controlled via an applied current. When power was applied (up to 43.8 W), the prototype vest generated increasing magnitudes of pressure (up to 37.6 mmHg, spatially averaged across the front of the torso) on a representative child-sized form. The average pressure generated was measured up to 71.6% of the modeled pressure, and spatial pressure nonuniformities were observed that can be traced to specific garment architectural features. Although there is no consistent standard in magnitude or distribution of applied force in compression therapy garments, it is clear from comparative benchmarks that the compression produced by this garment exceeds the demands of the target application. This study demonstrates the viability of SMA-based compression garments as an enabling technology for enhancing SPD (and other compression-based) treatment.