Improving the Washability of Smart Textiles: Influence of Different Washing Conditions on Textile Integrated Conductor Tracks

After more than two decades, smart textiles have not yet reached a wide market. Enhancing their often still poor usability is necessary for improved user acceptance. Washability is a key requirement, especially concerning textile integrated conductor tracks. Those tracks exhibit a higher level of integration into the textile substrates compared to other, often removable components of smart textiles. In this article, the effect of textile substrates and washing factors time, temperature and mechanical action on the reliability of conductor tracks is researched. 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. 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.