3D PRINTING OF FLEXIBLE CONDUCTIVE POLYMERS ON TEXTILES FOR SENSING AND ELECTRICAL CONNECTION

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a 3D printing technology that works by deposition of a material, layer by layer, creating 3D objects. The growth of these technologies has been exponential and the application of AM in the textile industry has also been a subject of increased interest in the past few years. The applications are not only for decorative purposes, but also for biomedical and other uses in e-textiles. However, a crucial point for making such assembly is the adhesion between the material and the textile substrate, as well as the premise of meeting demanding wash resistance requirements. This work aims to investigate the possibility of creating sensors by combining textiles with conductive polymeric filaments used in 3D printing. Merging the flexibility of use, mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of the polymeric filaments with the comfort and physical properties of the textiles can be a promising approach to create novel sensing structures. In this document, we give an overview of the recent state of the art of experimental research on adhesion in textile and polymer composites as well as an optimization of the printing parameters with a conductive filament, PI-ETPU. Some results from the printed samples in terms of print quality and electrical resistance are presented. Combining both topics, further work will include printing with conductive filament on textile substrates to study the possibly of creating sensing and electrical connections.