Actuators (artificial muscles) comprising twist-spun nanofiber twist-inserted polymer fibers generate tensile actuation when powered electrically, photonically, chemically, thermally, by absorption, or by other means. These artificial muscles utilize coiled polymer fibers and can be either neat or comprising a guest. In some embodiments, the coiled polymer fibers actuator can be incorporated into an article, such as a textile, braid, clothing, smart packaging, or a mechanical system, and the coiled polymer fiber in the coiled polymer fiber actuator can have a stroke amplification factor of 5 or greater.

Actuators (artificial muscles) comprising twist-spun nanofiber yarn or twist-inserted polymer fibers generate torsional actuation when powered electrically, photonically, chemically, thermally, by absorption, or by other means. These artificial muscles utilize coiled yarns/polymer fibers and can be either neat or comprising a guest. In some embodiments, the actuator system includes a twisted and coiled polymer fiber actuator, and at least one of (i) wire connections that enable electrical heating of the twisted and coiled polymer fiber actuator, (ii) a radiation source and radiation pathway that enables photothermal heating of the twisted and coiled polymer fiber actuator, and (iii) a delivery system for delivering chemicals whose reaction produces heating of the twisted and coiled polymer fiber actuator.

Actuators (artificial muscles) comprising twist-spun nanofiber yarn or twist-inserted polymer fibers generate torsional actuation when powered electrically, photonically, chemically, thermally, by absorption, or by other means. These artificial muscles utilize coiled yarns/polymer fibers and can be either neat or comprising a guest. In some embodiments, the actuator system includes a twisted and coiled polymer fiber actuator, and at least one of (i) wire connections that enable electrical heating of the twisted and coiled polymer fiber actuator, (ii) a radiation source and radiation pathway that enables photothermal heating of the twisted and coiled polymer fiber actuator, and (iii) a delivery system for delivering chemicals whose reaction produces heating of the twisted and coiled polymer fiber actuator.

Provided are a silica glass yarn and a silica glass cloth which have a signal transmission speed that is made stable through stabilization of a characteristic impedance in addition to a low dielectric constant and a low loss. The silica glass yarn has a yarn habit density of 0.10 piece/cm or less of yarn habits each having a bending point with a radius of curvature of 5 mm or less and a bending angle of 120° or less. It is preferred that the silica glass yarn have a tensile strength of 2.0 GPa or more, and silica glass filaments forming the silica glass yarn each have a breaking start strength of 80.0% or more of the tensile strength of the silica glass yarn.

Provided are a silica glass yarn and a silica glass cloth which have a signal transmission speed that is made stable through stabilization of a characteristic impedance in addition to a low dielectric constant and a low loss. The silica glass yarn has a yarn habit density of 0.10 piece/cm or less of yarn habits each having a bending point with a radius of curvature of 5 mm or less and a bending angle of 120° or less. It is preferred that the silica glass yarn have a tensile strength of 2.0 GPa or more, and silica glass filaments forming the silica glass yarn each have a breaking start strength of 80.0% or more of the tensile strength of the silica glass yarn.

Provided is a cartridge filter using nanofiber composite fiber yarn, the cartridge filter including: a core having a plurality of holes through which a liquid passes; and a filter medium wound around the core to collect an object to be filtered contained in the liquid, wherein the filter medium comprises composite fiber yarn in which a nanofiber web which is produced by accumulating nanofibers produced by an electrospinning method is laminated to a porous nonwoven fabric, to thus provide excellent durability and improved filtration performance.

Provided is a cartridge filter using nanofiber composite fiber yarn, the cartridge filter including: a core having a plurality of holes through which a liquid passes; and a filter medium wound around the core to collect an object to be filtered contained in the liquid, wherein the filter medium comprises composite fiber yarn in which a nanofiber web which is produced by accumulating nanofibers produced by an electrospinning method is laminated to a porous nonwoven fabric, to thus provide excellent durability and improved filtration performance.

The invention addresses the problem of providing a cloth that is excellent not only in flame retardancy and antistatic properties but also in appearance quality and preferably also has protection performance against electric arcs, a method for producing the same, and a textile product. A means for resolution is a cloth including a meta-type wholly aromatic polyamide fiber and an electrically conductive fiber, wherein both the meta-type wholly aromatic polyamide fiber and the electrically conductive fiber are colored.

Provided is a piezoelectric substrate, containing an elongate piezoelectric body that is helically wound, in which the piezoelectric body includes an optically active polypeptide, a length direction of the piezoelectric body and a main orientation direction of the optically active polypeptide included in the piezoelectric body are substantially parallel to each other, and the piezoelectric body has a degree of orientation F of from 0.50 to less than 1.00, as determined from X-ray diffraction measurement by the following Formula (a):
Degree of orientation F=(180°−α)/180°  (a) in Formula (a), α represents a half width (°) of a peak derived from orientation.

A torsional actuator formed of a yarn of twisted shape memory material. The yarn has multiple strands of homogeneous shape memory material that have been homochirally twisted. For torsional actuation, a fractional portion of the yarn is heated such as by Joule heating. Various Joule heating mechanisms include passing an electrical current through an unwound segment of the yarn, or by coating a fractional portion of the length of each homogeneous strand with a coating material of higher electrical conductivity than the electrical conductivity of the shape memory material an passing current through the length of the yarn. The shape memory material may be a shape memory alloy such as a NiTi alloy.