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Durability of screen printed electrical interconnections on woven textiles

Durability of screen printed electrical interconnections on woven textiles
Durability of screen printed electrical interconnections on woven textiles
Screen-printed interconnections are one example of interconnect technology that is currently being developed for e-textiles. The simplicity in the fabrication process and the high degree of design freedom it affords, allow electronic circuits to be easily realized on a textile host. Nonetheless, these interconnects often lose their electrical conductivities under external stresses such as bending or washing. This paper empirically demonstrates that electrical interconnects are more durable and reliable when printed on or close to the neutral axis (NA) of the e-textile where the internal stress is minimized. Piezoresistive strain gauges were screen printed on two different woven fabrics - Bari and PES (polyester), so as to locate the NA of these textile composites and evaluate the durability of the electrical interconnects under bending and washing stresses. Empirical results show that these mechanical effects significantly degrade the electrical conductivities of gauges positioned farthest from the NA. These gauges show resistance changes that were 34 times and 122 times more than those closest to the NA of their textile composites after five washing cycles and during negative bending curvature of 2 cm-1. The implication of this result for screen printed e-textiles is that they will survive longer in their application environments if the interconnections and electronics integrated in them are in the proximity of the neutral axis of the e-textile.
IEEE
Komolafe, Abiodun
5e79fbab-38be-4a64-94d5-867a94690932
Torah, Russel
7147b47b-db01-4124-95dc-90d6a9842688
Yang, Kai
f1c9b81d-e821-47eb-a69e-b3bc419de9c7
Tudor, Michael
46eea408-2246-4aa0-8b44-86169ed601ff
Beeby, Stephen
ba565001-2812-4300-89f1-fe5a437ecb0d
Komolafe, Abiodun
5e79fbab-38be-4a64-94d5-867a94690932
Torah, Russel
7147b47b-db01-4124-95dc-90d6a9842688
Yang, Kai
f1c9b81d-e821-47eb-a69e-b3bc419de9c7
Tudor, Michael
46eea408-2246-4aa0-8b44-86169ed601ff
Beeby, Stephen
ba565001-2812-4300-89f1-fe5a437ecb0d

Komolafe, Abiodun, Torah, Russel, Yang, Kai, Tudor, Michael and Beeby, Stephen (2015) Durability of screen printed electrical interconnections on woven textiles. In 2015 IEEE 65th Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC). IEEE.. (doi:10.1109/ECTC.2015.7159738).

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

Screen-printed interconnections are one example of interconnect technology that is currently being developed for e-textiles. The simplicity in the fabrication process and the high degree of design freedom it affords, allow electronic circuits to be easily realized on a textile host. Nonetheless, these interconnects often lose their electrical conductivities under external stresses such as bending or washing. This paper empirically demonstrates that electrical interconnects are more durable and reliable when printed on or close to the neutral axis (NA) of the e-textile where the internal stress is minimized. Piezoresistive strain gauges were screen printed on two different woven fabrics - Bari and PES (polyester), so as to locate the NA of these textile composites and evaluate the durability of the electrical interconnects under bending and washing stresses. Empirical results show that these mechanical effects significantly degrade the electrical conductivities of gauges positioned farthest from the NA. These gauges show resistance changes that were 34 times and 122 times more than those closest to the NA of their textile composites after five washing cycles and during negative bending curvature of 2 cm-1. The implication of this result for screen printed e-textiles is that they will survive longer in their application environments if the interconnections and electronics integrated in them are in the proximity of the neutral axis of the e-textile.

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Published date: 16 July 2015

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 416935
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/416935
PURE UUID: fc2c77bf-22aa-4e8f-8ec4-a5381d2cd786
ORCID for Abiodun Komolafe: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3618-2390
ORCID for Russel Torah: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5598-2860
ORCID for Kai Yang: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7497-3911
ORCID for Michael Tudor: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1179-9455
ORCID for Stephen Beeby: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0800-1759

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Date deposited: 15 Jan 2018 17:30
Last modified: 18 Apr 2024 01:45

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Contributors

Author: Abiodun Komolafe ORCID iD
Author: Russel Torah ORCID iD
Author: Kai Yang ORCID iD
Author: Michael Tudor ORCID iD
Author: Stephen Beeby ORCID iD

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