Actively actuated all dispenser printed thermochromic smart fabric device

Abstract

An all printed actively actuated thermochromic (TC) smart fabric device is reported for the first time using a state of the art dispenser printing technique. The device consists of an ultraviolet curable TC ink with an activation temperature of 33°C actuated by conductive track-based printed heater. The device is printed on untreated polyester cotton fabric. It offers a significant improvement in flexibility and design freedom over the state of the art TC fabric devices. The printed device changes colour from black to green in 10.8 s using 1.46 W DC power. It is shown that the time required for the device to change colour reduces tenfold with only a threefold increase in input power. It can be fabricated on other fabric or flexible substrates and in a range of colours and activation temperatures depending on the formulation chosen. The printed device is 30 × 21.5 mm which can be scaled up or down to suit the application. It can be used as an indicator in combination with sensors for smart fabric applications.

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for Y. Wei: orcid.org/0000-0001-6195-8595

ORCID for R. Torah: orcid.org/0000-0002-5598-2860

ORCID for J. Tudor: orcid.org/0000-0003-1179-9455

Catalogue record

Export record

Altmetrics