INTERCONNECTION OF ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE TEXTILE FIBERS FOR APPLICATION IN SMART TEXTILES

摘要

The fabrication and first tests of an interconnect method for electrically conductive textile fibers and the dependence of DC resistance on successive washing cycles are presented. The washing was performed by applying successive ISO 6330: 2012 6N, 60°C washing cycles. Woven bands with conductive bi-component fibers (PA6 sheath and HDPE core with 40 wt-% carbon black) in the warp was used. Approximately 4200 fibers (～176 multifilament yarns with 24 fibers in each yarn) were contacted in both ends to soft thermoplastic sheets with 20 wt% carbon black by applying heat and pressure to the sheet-band-sheet sandwiched structure. The initial resistance is approximately 1 kΩ and shows an initial sharp increase of an order of magnitude after one washing cycle. After the first washing cycle the drop per washing cycle levels off and after 10 washing cycles the resistance is approximately 20 kΩ. Non destructive Scanning Acoustic Microscopy (SAM) measurements reveal an intact interface between warp and thermoplastic sheets before washing and partial or complete delamination between the warp ends and the thermoplastic after 10 washing cycles. Destructive investi-gations using micro-sectioning and optical microscopy verifies largely the SAM observations. The failure mode responsible for the initial sharp increase in resistance is likely fiber end detachment or fiber core fracture caused by the mechanical impact during washing. Only a small resistance increase was observed for the thermoplastic sheet material.