Abstract
This research presents an investigation of novel textile-based strain sensors and evaluates their performance. The electrical resistance and mechanical properties of seven different textile sensors were measured. The sensors are made up of a conductive thread, composed of silver plated nylon 117/17 2-ply, 33 tex and 234/34 4-ply, 92 tex and formed in different stitch structures (304, 406, 506, 605), and sewn directly onto a knit fabric substrate (4.44 tex/2 ply, with 2.22, 4.44 and 7.78 tex spandex and 7.78 tex/2 ply, with 2.22 and 4.44 tex spandex). Analysis of the effects of elongation with respect to resistance indicated the ideal configuration for electrical properties, especially electrical sensitivity and repeatability. The optimum linear working range of the sensor with minimal hysteresis was found, and the sensor’s gauge factor indicated that the sensitivity of the sensor varied significantly with repeating cycles. The electrical resistance of the various stitch structures changed significantly, while the amount of drift remained negligible. Stitch 304 2-ply was found to be the most suitable for strain movement. This sensor has a wide working range, well past 50%, and linearity (R2 is 0.984), low hysteresis (6.25% ΔR), good gauge factor (1.61), and baseline resistance (125 Ω), as well as good repeatability (drift in R2 is −0.0073). The stitch-based sensor developed in this research is expected to find applications in garments as wearables for physiological wellbeing monitoring such as body movement, heart monitoring, and limb articulation measurement.
Highlights
In the last decade there has been an increasing interest for developing different types of wearable sensors
Different types of textile stitch-based strain sensors have been investigated. The effects on their sensing properties related to their resistance change have been examined for a number of different stitch geometries
It has been shown that stitch type variations have a significant effect on cyclic conductivity and resistance, revealing that each stitch design is more suitable for different sensor applications
Summary
In the last decade there has been an increasing interest for developing different types of wearable sensors. There are many sensor types that have shown potential as wearable sensors amongst them piezoresistive films which show good change in resistance by simple changes to their geometry and observed microcracking contributing to high gauge factors [1,2]; their durability and strechability are areas of concern for further development. Capacitive sensors are another common type seeing in touch screens because of their good sensitivity, low energy and adaptability [3]. Zhang et al [12,13] and Li et al [14] showed that the electrical resistance occurring
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