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摘要

"Three-Dimensionally Deformable, Highly Stretch-able, Permeable, Durable and Washable Fabric Circuit Boards" Authors: Qiao Li and Xiao Ming Tao; xiao-ming. tao@polyu.edu.hk. Abstract: Fabric circuit boards (FCB), a new type of circuit board, are three-dimensionally deformable, highly stretchable, durable and washable, ideally for wearable electronic applications. Fabricated by using computerized knitting technologies at ambient dry conditions, the resultant knitted FCBs exhibit outstanding electrical stability with less than 1% relative resistance change up to 300% strain in unidirectional tensile test or 150% membrane strain in three-dimensional ball punch test, extraordinary fatigue life of more than one million loading cycles at 20% maximum strain, and satisfactory washing capability up to 30 times. To the best of the researchers' knowledge, the performance of new FCBs has far exceeded those of previously reported metal-coated elastomeric films or other organic materials in terms of changes in electrical resistance, stretchability, fatigue life and washing capability, as well as permeability. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulation illustrate that the structural conversion of knitted fabrics is attributed to the effective mitigation of strain in the conductive metal fibers, hence the outstanding mechanical and electrical properties. Those distinctive features make the FCBs particularly suitable for next-to-skin electronic devices.