Currently, conductive yarn can be knitted into fabrics to endow the traditional textile product with special attributes, such as shielding electromagnetic waves, detecting and transferring electrical signals, replacing fingers in the operation of touch-screen panels, etc. Research on the electrical properties of conductive knitted fabrics can contribute to the development of such functional textiles. A few studies have been conducted, and it has been found that the variation of the knitted structure can impact the properties of a conductive knitted fabric. Among the properties of conductive fabrics, the resistance value is an important index to decide the performance of electrical functions. Several researchers have conducted practical experiments and theoretical analyses to predict the resistance of plain weft knitted structure. However, in addition to the plain weft knitted structure, the float structure is another important basic knitted structure. Therefore, a geometric model incorporated with a simplified resistive network is proposed for the calculation of the electrical resistance of conductive knitted fabrics with float stitches and will be studied in this paper. The aim of the model is to determine the resistive effects of conductive float stitches on knitted structures with different numbers of knitted courses and wales. The geometric model can provide a detailed mathematical description of a single knitted loop in the Cartesian coordinate system. With the simplified resistive network, the resistance of conductive float stitches in knitted fabrics can be modeled and computed. The experimental results revealed that the proposed model could approximate the equivalent electrical resistance of the conductive float stitches in knitted fabrics to an acceptable degree.
Wearable electronics textiles are a new emerging phenomenon. These are textiles that incorporate electrical properties, for example heating, light emitting, sensing, etc., and are now being rapidly developed due to the creation of new types of fibers and fiber composites. The different ways that can be used to combine conductive fibers with electronics components have been receiving much attention in wearable electronics research. However, to meet the requirements for both aesthetics and function, textiles technology and the garment design method are important for commercial success. In order to apply electronics to fabrics with the use of conductive fibers, complex and elastic fabric structures both need to be modeled. Therefore, the focus of this study is to examine the resistance properties of single pique, a fabric that is conductive and has a knitted structure that uses tuck stitches, a typical structure in knitting. A planar geometric model is established for a single pique structure based on the loop construction of this knitted fabric. Subsequently, resistive network models are developed for different cases of external voltages to calculate the resistance values of single pique fabrics with different numbers of wales and courses. Corresponding experiments are carried out to verify the proposed resistive network modeling. The newly developed resistance model in this study will provide significant benefits to the industrialization of wearable electronics textiles and the apparel industry as they can offer commercial apparel products that are not only aesthetically pleasing and multi-functional, but also have high added value.
Numerous studies have performed analyses of knitted fabric integrating conductive yarn in textile-based electronic circuits, some of which established simulative models such as the resistive network model for knitting stitches. Compared to conductive knitted fabrics, limited studies have been presented regarding the resistive theoretical model of conductive woven fabric. In this paper, a simulation model was derived to compute the resistance of conductive woven fabric in terms of the following fabric parameters: structure, density and conductive yarn arrangement. The results revealed that the model is well fitted ( P value < 0.01) and can predict the resistance of woven fabrics, which makes it possible to estimate the fabric parameters and thus to meet the required resistance. Based on this model, thermal conductive woven fabric with maximum energy management and cost control can be efficiently designed.
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