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Phoenix666 writes:

Pickup line, circa 2030: "Do my pants think it's hot in here, or is it just you?"

Imagine a single-coloured piece of cloth that suddenly displays a colourful pattern when the ambient temperature changes. Upon further temperature change, a completely different pattern shows up.

[...] Marjan Kooroshnia began her research on already existing descriptions of leuco dye-based thermochromic inks; below their activation temperature they are coloured, and above their activation temperature they are clear or have a light hue. In addition, they are usually blended with static pigments, allowing them to change from one colour to another.

[...] After a lot of testing in the printing lab, she managed to mix the inks so that they looked similar when they were in a non-heated state and they change to different colours as result of increasing temperature.

Then, she explored thermochromic inks with different activation temperatures in order to create a wide spectrum of colours that would appear at different temperatures. She used thermochromic inks with activation temperatures of 27, 37 and 47°C to create a dynamic pattern that colour changing effects that appear in sequence due to increasing temperature; for example, the pattern has one colour at 27°C, another colour at 37°C and another colour at 47°C.

Or will it take off as a uniform that's white when it's cold, and camouflage pattern when it's hot?

Original Submission