Wash Testing of Electronic Yarn

• Published in: Materials Vol. 13; no. 5; p. 1228
• Main Authors: Hardy, Dorothy Anne, Rahemtulla, Zahra, Satharasinghe, Achala, Shahidi, Arash, Oliveira, Carlos, Anastasopoulos, Ioannis, Nashed, Mohamad Nour, Kgatuke, Matholo, Komolafe, Abiodun, Torah, Russel, Tudor, John, Hughes-Riley, Theodore, Beeby, Steve, Dias, Tilak
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 09.03.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Circuits; Copper wire; Design; Detection; Drying; electronic textiles; electronic yarn; flexible circuit; led; Light emitting diodes; Mechanical systems; microphone; package die; Polyesters; Sheaths; smart textiles; Textiles; thermistor; Thermistors; tumble-dry; wash test; Washing; Yarn; Yarns; United Kingdom > UK; Istanbul Turkey; Turkey; package die; flexible circuit; LED; electronic yarn; smart textiles; microphone; tumble-dry; wash test; electronic textiles; thermistor
• ISSN: 1996-1944; 1996-1944
• DOI: 10.3390/ma13051228

Electronically active yarn (E-yarn) pioneered by the Advanced Textiles Research Group of Nottingham Trent University contains a fine conductive copper wire soldered onto a package die, micro-electro-mechanical systems device or flexible circuit. The die or circuit is then held within a protective polymer packaging (micro-pod) and the ensemble is inserted into a textile sheath, forming a flexible yarn with electronic functionality such as sensing or illumination. It is vital to be able to wash E-yarns, so that the textiles into which they are incorporated can be treated as normal consumer products. The wash durability of E-yarns is summarized in this publication. Wash tests followed a modified version of BS EN ISO 6330:2012 procedure 4N. It was observed that E-yarns containing only a fine multi-strand copper wire survived 25 cycles of machine washing and line drying; and between 5 and 15 cycles of machine washing followed by tumble-drying. Four out of five temperature sensing E-yarns (crafted with thermistors) and single pairs of LEDs within E-yarns functioned correctly after 25 cycles of machine washing and line drying. E-yarns that required larger micro-pods (i.e., 4 mm diameter or 9 mm length) were less resilient to washing. Only one out of five acoustic sensing E-yarns (4 mm diameter micro-pod) operated correctly after 20 cycles of washing with either line drying or tumble-drying. Creating an E-yarn with an embedded flexible circuit populated with components also required a relatively large micro-pod (diameter 0.93 mm, length 9.23 mm). Only one embedded circuit functioned after 25 cycles of washing and line drying. The tests showed that E-yarns are suitable for inclusion in textiles that require washing, with some limitations when larger micro-pods were used. Reduction in the circuit's size and therefore the size of the micro-pod, may increase wash resilience.