Abstract
Smart textiles have attracted huge attention due to their potential applications for ease of life. Recently, smart textiles have been produced by means of incorporation of electronic components onto/into conductive metallic yarns. The development, characterizations, and electro-mechanical testing of surface mounted electronic device (SMD) integrated E-yarns is still limited. There is a vulnerability to short circuits as non-filament conductive yarns have protruding fibers. It is important to determine the best construction method and study the factors that influence the textile properties of the base yarn. This paper investigated the effects of different external factors, namely, strain, solder pad size, temperature, abrasion, and washing on the electrical resistance of SMD integrated silver-coated Vectran (SCV) yarn. For this, a Vectran E-yarn was fabricated by integrating the SMD resistor into a SCV yarn by applying a vapor phase reflow soldering method. The results showed that the conductive gauge length, strain, overlap solder pad size, temperature, abrasion, and washing had a significant effect on the electrical resistance property of the SCV E-yarn. In addition, based on the experiment, the E-yarn made from SCV conductive thread and 68 Ω SMD resistor had the maximum electrical resistance and power of 72.16 Ω and 0.29 W per 0.31 m length. Therefore, the structure of this E-yarn is also expected to bring great benefits to manufacturing wearable conductive tracks and sensors.
Highlights
Most smart textiles are manufactured by using the integration of electronic components or conductive fibers onto textile substrates [3]
It proves that the electrical resistance increased with increasing clamping gauge length as claimed in Ref. [41]
There was a small increase in electrical resistance for both samples after each washing cycle and their resistance increased by a magnitude of 6% for silver-coated Vectran (SCV) conductive yarn and 10% for E-yarn before 10 wash cycles
Summary
The combination of microelectronics into textile substrate can be carried out integrating to a yarn by various means [16], e.g., through weaving [17], through sewing and embroidering [18,19], using hybrid soldering techniques [20], using sewing integration [21], applying electrically conductive inks [22], through 2D-screen printing [23], and through 3D-printing [24] Mechanical connectors such as snap buttons, crimp connections, crimp flat-pack, socket buttons, bolt connection, ribbon cable connectors, and hook and loop have been used for connecting electronics devices onto the surface of the textile fabric [14].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
