Analysis of Hot Bar Soldering, Insulation Displacement Connections (IDC), and Anisotropic Conductive Adhesives (ACA), for the Automated Production of Smart Textiles.

Sebastian Micus,Ivan Kirsten,Michael Haupt,Götz T Gresser

doi:10.3390/s20010005

Abstract

Despite all the growth forecasts of the smart textiles market, there is no stable automated manufacturing process for attaching classic electronics to textiles. The great amount of manual production steps causes high prices, which slow down market growth. During the production process, the contacting step offers the greatest potential to reduce manual manufacturing steps. For this reason, we have analyzed various contacting methods for electronic parts on conductive yarns that have a high potential for automation. The chosen methods were thermode soldering, insulation–displacement connectors and anisotropic conductive adhesives. In order to ensure reliable mechanical contacting, the samples were tested in a peeling experiment. The examination of the contact resistances took place in the context of a resistance test using four-wire measuring technology.

Highlights

Current studies confirm that the market volume of smart textiles will grow significantly in the coming years
The high proportion of manual production steps ensures high prices, which slow down market growth
To calculate the contact resistance, a four-wire measuring technique was used by way of the measuring setup from

Summary

Introduction

Current studies confirm that the market volume of smart textiles will grow significantly in the coming years. One of the reasons for the low market penetration of electronic textiles is the high share of manual tasks during their production [2]. The high proportion of manual production steps ensures high prices, which slow down market growth. This is the reason why the German Institute of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF) has searched intensively for automatable contacting methods. These are inside the textile, meaning it is possible to join components from both sides. Automated methods for contacting printed circuit boards PCBs to isolated wires have not yet been sufficiently investigated in the literature

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