Abstract

As the control of the textile complex has shifted further downstream to the consumer, specialized demands has rendered manufacturers to diversify the existing product with suitable modifications in conventional textile structures. Knitting process is an obvious choice for manufacturers due to its flexibility and adaptability in form of tool technique and methodology. Knitted fabrics have been extensively applied in dresses and home accessories due to their ease of manufacturing process, comfort and are most viable option in comparison with woven counterpart. In recent years, with certain structural modifications, the applications of the fabrics knitted have shown remarkable achievement as reinforcement material in forming structural light weight composite materials. Furthermore with innovation in field of conductive and smart textile materials, knitted structure has also played an important role for producing sensors, actuators, heating elements, communication and data transmissions, electromagnetic shielding effectiveness and integrated smart clothing systems. An attempt has been made to analyze the research work of different researchers related to conductive knitted structure and their effectiveness in various aforementioned application areas and put forward an overview relevant in present scenario.