A Fabric-Based Textile Stretch Sensor for Optimized Measurement of Strain in Clothing.

Yetanawork Teyeme,Lieva Van Langenhove,Tamrat Tesfaye,Benny Malengier

doi:10.3390/s20247323

Yetanawork Teyeme, Lieva Van Langenhove + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/s20247323

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Abstract

Fabric stretch sensors are available as planar fabrics, but their reliability and reproducibility are low. To find a good working setup for use in an elastic sports garment, the design of such sensors must be optimized. The main purpose of this study was to develop resistive strain sensors from stretchable conductive fabric and investigating the influence of stretchability on conductivity/resistivity. The influence of using the sensor in a sweat rich environment was also determined, in order to evaluate the potential use of the sensor in sporting garments. The sensor resistivity performance was analyzed for its sensitivity, working range, and repeatability and it was determined what makes the sensitivity when elongated or stretched. The resistivity was found to decrease with elongation if no sweat is present, this can be due to molecular rearrangement and a higher degree of orientation that improves the conductivity of a material. The result from this finding also shows that for wearable applications the commercial EeonTexTM conductive stretchable fabric did not show a considerable resistivity increase, nor a good sensitivity. The sensitivity of the sensor was between 0.97 and 1.28 and varies with different elongation %. This may be due to the mechanical deformation characteristics of knitted samples that lead to changes in conductivity. We advise that the testing performed in this paper is done by default on new stretch sensitive textile materials, so practical use of the material can be correctly estimated.

Highlights

Textiles and electronics are converging (e-textiles) [1], which is relevant for the development of smart materials that are capable of accomplishing a wide spectrum of functions in textiles, which are only found in rigid and non-flexible electronic products
Our objective is to present a stretchable conductive fabric sensor from a commercially available conductive stretchable fabric aimed at pressure and stretch sensor applications
As mentioned in the previous sections, the experiment was conducted to measure the resistivity performance of a strain/stretch sensor which is developed from conductive textiles

Summary

Introduction

Textiles and electronics are converging (e-textiles) [1], which is relevant for the development of smart materials that are capable of accomplishing a wide spectrum of functions in textiles, which are only found in rigid and non-flexible electronic products. Recent advances in wearable devices including textile-based strain sensors have shown substantial promise for applications in health care areas as they can assist in remote health monitoring [4] and in sport (clothing that can track body movements and activity monitoring) [5]. They are used for communication, sensing and monitoring, even for position location, to enable personal applications such as protection and safety functionality, emergency response, and dedicated tasks such as controlling the vibration of muscles during athletic activities [6,7].

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