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Unravelling the physics of knitting

Knitted nylon fabric validates a model of the material’s behaviour under tension.
Nylon knitted stitches responding to stretching

A machine stretches a panel of knitted nylon thread to help confirm a model of the properties of knitted fabrics. Credit: S. Poincloux et al./Phys. Rev. X

Physicists often think of socks and other knitted fabrics as ‘metamaterials’ — that is, their macroscopic properties are determined by patterning at intermediate, rather than microscopic, scales. This is why scarves and socks are stretchy even if the yarn they are made of is not. But predicting the elasticity and other physical properties of knits from first principles has been a long-standing challenge.

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Nature 559, 9 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05542-x

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