Washability of smart textiles explored by researchers

Exploring the challenges surrounding the laundering of smart textiles, a recent article published in the Journal of the Textile Institute analysed the effect of textile substrates and washing factors (including time, temperature and mechanical action) on the reliability of conductor tracks.

Achieving wider use of smart textiles, according to the abstract, requires enhancing their often still poor usability — with washability as a key requirement. This is particularly true with textile integrated conductor tracks as those tracks “exhibit a higher level of integration into the textile substrates compared to other, often removable components of smart textiles”.

Authors Sigrid Rotzler, Christine Kallmayer, Christian Dils, Malte von Krshiwoblozki, Ulrich Bauer and Martin Schneider-Ramelow assessed changes in conductivity to determine the effects of different washing conditions on different combinations of textile substrate and conductor tracks were determined via changes in conductivity.

“Differing results for each combination do not permit global conclusions about the washability of textile integrated conductor tracks or smart textiles,” according to the abstract for the paper, which is titled Improving the washability of smart textiles: influence of different washing conditions on textile integrated conductor tracks.

“Instead, washability is influenced by the choice and combination of materials as well as methods of integration and processing – important to consider when developing new products.”

Source: Sports Textiles

Recent Posts

Swisstulle advances dyeing efficiency with JigMaster

Swisstulle adopted JigMaster for its dyeing and finishing operations, especially for high-quality technical textiles used in fashion and automotive industries.

3 days ago

Birla Cellulose and Circ partner to scale textile recycling

Birla Cellulose, a leader under the Aditya Birla Group, has announced a long-term partnership with Circ, a U.S.-based textile recycling…

3 days ago

CARBIOS unveils enzymatically recycled polyester t-shirt

CARBIOS has collaborated with leading brands Patagonia, PUMA, Salomon etc. to create a groundbreaking polyester garment made entirely from textile…

3 days ago

Yangi launches sustainable fiber-based food tray

Yangi, renowned for its renewable packaging solutions, has launched a fiber-based food tray as a sustainable alternative to plastic trays…

3 days ago

Tarpaulife Project develops alternative to PVC-coated fabrics

The European Tarpaulife Project is working on polyolefin-coated fabrics, such as polyethylene, that can be manufactured to compete with PVC-coated…

3 days ago

Better Cotton to standardise measurements for cotton production

Better Cotton has joined the global non-profit alliance, Cascale, in a three-year project aimed at standardising LCA methods across the…

3 days ago