Electrically conductive smart textiles are a very interesting area that could be important for the development of smart textiles. Today, conductive yarns and threads are often produced from coveted metals such as silver, copper and gold. These metals require large resources to be extracted and processed into yarns and threads and have a major impact on humans and the environment. One way to reduce the consumption of metals and save resources is to coat yarns of textile materials with electrically conductive polymers. In this study, we will investigate coating yarns with the conductive polymer blend PEDOT-PSS. PEDOT-PSS is extracted from oil, which is a non-renewable raw material, but coating with this polymer dispersion has many other advantages over metals and its production chain. Like coating yarn through a chemical bath produces very little waste, the yarn has a smaller mass, the yarn becomes more flexible, and it is easy to scale up production. However, previous studies have shown that there are some difficulties when it comes to coating yarns with PEDOT-PSS. The coating becomes fragile and brittle and to some extent affects the yarn that is coated in terms of mechanical properties. In this study, its investigated how the yarn is affected by various parameters in the production line, such as drying temperature, the viscosity of the PEDOT-PSS dispersion and the speed of the thread traveling through the production line, to find optimal production parameters that provide a balance between conductive and mechanical properties. We have produced a number of samples, all with different variations of parameters, and investigated how its conductive and mechanical properties are affected to see if there is a pattern and connection between parameters and conductive and mechanical properties on the yarn. The results show that yarn samples made with high viscosity of the PEDOT-PSS dispersion are among the lower range of resistance (with some exceptions), with average values of about 2990 O up to 10300 O, while lower viscosity shows uneven results with average values of about 92,000 O and all the way up to about 6,500,000 O. Most samples with lower measured O values are made with a high drying temperature, but no clear connection could be detected between temperature and end result, nor did the different speeds show any clear connection to the result. For the mechanical properties, it turns out that there is a relationship between result and viscosity as well as result and drying temperature. Samples made with low viscosity and low drying temperature perform best in the mechanical tests, 59.7% to 52.9% elongation and 25 cN / tex to 21 cN / tex. While speeds in this category could not show any connection between the results either. Overall, the results can be summarized as the results of tests show that there are some correlations between the parameters and the properties of the yarn samples and that the viscosity of the PEDOT-PSS dispersion and drying temperature are the most influential parameters. For conductive properties, viscosity has the greatest effect and for mechanical properties, viscosity and temperature have the greatest effect. For conductive properties, high viscosity is good, and for mechanical properties, low temperature and low viscosity are best. The sample with the best combination of test results was tested in a knitting machine but the variant chosen for knitting did not have good enough mechanical properties for the knitting machine used and broke when exposed to the stress from the knitting process. Therefore, the knitting test was not successful, but it was possible to sift out what parameter of the production line that had the greatest impact on the coated yarn properties.

Ledningsbanor syftar till att föra ström eller digitala signaler mellan elektroniska komponenter. Traditionellt brukar ledare av solid metall användas, då metall har låg resistans och lämpar sig bra som strömledare. I denna studie utforskas möjlig-heten för olika material att fungera som textila ledningsbanor. Textila ledningsba-nor behövs bland annat i medicinska plagg med sensorer. En ledningsbana som ska vara i ett plagg måste både vara tvättbar och flexibel. I denna studie har tre konduktiva garner testats; Bekinox VN 12/2*275 /175S, Shi-eldex 235/34 och Highflex 3981 7*1 Silver. Ett textilt band med fyra ledningsba-nor i, OHM-e-12-L-1, från företaget Ohmatex har också utvärderats samt har det undersökts om det är möjligt att använda konduktiv silikon, Elastosil LR 3162 A/B, som en ledningsbana. För att ta reda på hur de konduktiva materialen tål tvätt har tvättester utförts där resistansen efter tvätt har mätts. En metod har utvecklats som går ut på att undersöka om konduktiviteten försämras när materialet utsätts för mekaniskt deformation vid en böjrörelse. Det har även testats om en silikonbe-läggning med Dow Corning 3140 RTV Coating kan förhindra en eventuell höjning av resistansen efter testerna och resultaten har jämförts med de prover som inte varit belagda. Beläggningen isolerar även garnerna och därför har även det testats att använda Elastosil som kontaktpunkter för de belagda garnerna. Bekinox klarar både tvätt och böjningstest bra. Shieldex resistans höjs efter tvätt men silikonbeläggningen har en skyddande effekt. Shieldex klarar böjningstestet bra och resistansen ändras knappt. Highflex klarar tvättesterna och har väldigt låg resistans men är känslig mot mekanisk deformation och skadas i böjningstesterna. Där har inte beläggningen en skyddande effekt. Elastosil är inte lämplig som led-ningsbana och fungerar inte som kontaktpunkter. Elastosil visar sig däremot ha god härdighet mot både tvätt och böjning. Bandet från Ohmatex fungerar bra både efter tvätt och böjningstester och är lämplig som ledningsbana. / Interconnections are electrical conductive tracks that aim to transport electricity or digital signals between components in a circuit. The conventional way of doing this is to use connections of solid metal, since they have low electrical resistance and are thereby suitable conductors. In this study, different materials have been investigated for their suitability to be used as textile interconnections. Textile in-terconnections are needed in for instance medical measuring equipment garments. A textile interconnection in a garment needs to withstand washing and bending. In this study three conductive yarns are tested; Bekinox VN 12/2*275/175S, Shieldex 235/34 and Highflex 3981 7*1 Silver. A textile interconnection narrow fabric with four copper wires within, OHM-e-12-L-1, by the company Ohmatex has also been investigated. The conductive silicon Elastosil LR 3162 A/B has also been investigated for its suitability to fit as textile interconnection and as electrical contact with conductive yarns. Washing tests have been made to investigate how the materials electrical resistance is affected by washing. To measure and under-stand the materials flexibility and how the resistance is affected by bending of the material, the materials have been bended in a bending apparatus that has been developed in this study. It has also been investigated whether or not a silicon coat-ing, Dow Corning 3140 RTV Coating, of the yarns may protect them from the chemical and mechanical wearing of washing and bending. The change in re-sistance has then been compared to values of the uncoated yarns. Since the coat-ing is electrically isolating the yarns, screen printed contact points of Elastosil has been added and investigated. Bekinox withstands both washing and bending well. The electrical resistance of Shieldex increases by washing, but the silicon coated yarns increase less than the uncoated yarns. Shieldex withstands the bending test well and the change in re-sistance is low. Highflex passes the washing test well and has very low resistance. But the Highflex yarn is sensitive to mechanical deformation and gets damaged by the bending test. The silicon coating has no protecting effect here. Elastosil is not suitable as an interconnection and the contact points by Elastosil are neither working well together with the conductive yarns. But Elastosil do withstands both the washing and bending test well. The conductive narrow fabric by Ohmatex withstands both the washing and bending test well and it is suitable as an inter-connection.

This thesis presents a study of the sensing properties exhibited by textile-based knitted strain sensors. Sensing fabrics were manufactured from silver-plated conductive nylon and non-conducting elastomeric yarns. The component yarns offered similar diameters, bending characteristics and surface friction, but their production parameters differed in respect of the yarn input tension, the number of conductive courses in the sensing structure and the elastomeric yarn extension characteristics. The knitted sensors were manufactured using flat-bed knitting technology, and electro-mechanical tests were performed on the specimens using a tensile testing machine to apply strain whilst the sensor was incorporated into a Wheatstone bridge arrangement to allow electrical monitoring. The novel operational principle relies on the separation under strain of adjacent conducting knitted loops which are normally held in contact by the elastomeric yarn. The results confirm that production parameters play a fundamental role in determining the physical behaviour and the sensing properties of knitted sensors and the response could be engineered by varying the production parameters of specific designs. Results showed that the knitted structures could be manipulated to produce gauge factor values between 2.26 and 0.23 for sensors with working ranges of 8.4 % and 3.3 % respectively when the elastomeric yarn had 8 cN input tension. The generated signals were stable and repeatable, and under cyclic testing proved to be substantially free from long-term drift. A textile-based strain sensor was developed to create a respiration belt; this was realised by bringing together the extensible knitted sensor and a relatively inelastic textile strap. Machine simulations and real time measurements on a human subject were performed to calculate average breathing frequencies under different static and dynamic conditions. Various respiration rates were monitored to simulate different medical conditions and with the belt located either round the torso or in the abdominal area, the sensor yielded a satisfactory response. However, body motion artefacts affected the signal quality under dynamic conditions and an additional signal-processing step was added to separate unwanted interference from the breathing signal. Electro-mechanical modelling was developed by exploiting Peirce`s loop model in order to describe the fabric geometry under static and dynamic conditions. Kirchhoff`s node and loop equations were employed to create a generalised solution for the equivalent electrical resistance of the textile sensor for a given knitted loop geometry and for a specified number of loops. Experimental results were obtained from the sensor for strain levels up to 40% and these correlate well with the modelled data; a maximum error of 2.13 % was found between the experimental and modelled resistance-strain relationships.

Práce je zaměřena na výzkum struktur založených na vlnovodu integrovaném do textilu (TIW). Pozornost je věnována elektrické charakterizaci textilních materiálů (textilní substráty, nitě), které jsou využívány při implementaci antén, rekonfigurovatelných a aktivních obvodů integrovaných do textilu. Práce se zabývá návrhem vícevrstvých přechodů mezi mikropáskovým vedením na konvenčním substrátu a vedeními integrovanými do textilu. Dále je prezentován koncept přepínače integrovaného do textilu. Přepínač je řízen vodivými sloupky, které vytvářejí otevřenou či zavřenou stěnu prostřednictvím stejnosměrně ovládaných PIN diod. Na závěr je formulována metodika návrhu kruhově polarizovaných antén integrovaných do textilu, jež jsou určeny pro práci v ISM pásmech až do 24 GHz. Všechny postupy návrhu byly ověřeny simulacemi a měřeními reálných vzorků, které byly vyrobeny sítotiskem stříbrnou polymerovou pastou. Polovodičové komponenty byly k obvodům přilepeny vodivým stříbrným lepidlem. Komponenty vyrobené sítotiskem byly porovnávány s referenčními strukturami, které byly realizovány pomocí samolepicí měděné fólie.