What is E-Textile?
An e-textile is a fabric developed with electronics in it to enable conductivity and the use of various technologies. Electronic textiles may be embedded with sensors, batteries, LEDs, and hands-free computing devices, depending on the fabric’s purpose. An e-textile is usually created by including conductive materials in the fabric, for example, weaving a silver thread into cloth.
Some e-textiles are designed to support wearable computing technologies, while others are created to add new functionality to non-technical applications. E-textiles for smart clothing and interior design applications could, for example, change color or light up. Sportswear embedded with sensors and other technologies could improve performance through controlling wind resistance, regulating body temperature, or monitoring the composition of an athlete’s perspiration.
- Construction of E-Textiles:-
- Lily Pad Arduino
- Fabric kit
- Antimagic
- Flora
- Conductive fabrics and textiles are plated or woven with metallic elements such as silver, nickel, tin, copper, and aluminum these are electro-nylon, electric-nylon nickel, clear-mesh, soft-mesh, electro-lycra, and steel-cloth. All these textiles show amazing electrical properties, with low surface resistance15, which can be used for making flexible and soft electrical circuits within garments or other products, pressure, and position-sensing systems. They are lightweight, flexible, durable, soft, and washable (some) and can be sewn like traditional textiles, which makes them a great replacement for wires in computational garments.
2. Conductive threads and yarns have a similar purpose to wires and that is to create conductive paths from one point to another. However, unlike wires they are flexible and can be sewn, woven, or embroidered onto textile, allowing for soft circuits to be created. Conductive threads and yarns offer alternative ways of connecting electronics on soft and flexible textiles mediums as well as offering traditional textile manufacturing techniques for creating computational garments.
Manufacturing of E-Textiles:-
A thread can be made to conduct electricity by either coating it with metals like copper or silver. It can also be made conductive by combining cotton or nylon fibers with metal
The basic E-Textile LED circuit is very simple and created by placing the LEDs in parallel with the battery. This is shown in the circuit diagram above left. To recreate this circuit, two pieces of conductive thread are used. One is used to connect the positive connection on the battery holder, to the positive leg on each LED used. The second piece of thread is used to connect the negative connection on the battery holder, to the negative leg on each LED used. The positive and negative pieces of the thread must not touch each other.