Effect of washing and temperature on electrical properties of conductive yarns and woven fabrics

Abstract

In our daily life, the temperature and washing parameters go unnoticed on the electrical properties of conductive yarns and woven fabrics. However, in many cases, these parameters play a crucial role in the use of conductive materials since they modify their electrical properties. It is critical to predict what this behaviour will be, as these washing and, in our temperature, parameters can improve or even deteriorate desirable properties in the materials, especially of sensors embedded textiles. The weight of the conductive samples was decreased up to 11% for silver-coated and 7.75% for gold-coated yarn after washing. The results suggest that the electrical resistance of yarns increases 1.6%, 8%, and 8.7% for silver-coated while 13%, 20%, and 21% increase in resistance value for gold-coated yarn after 1st, 2nd, and 3rd wash, respectively. The silver-coated yarn has better electrical conductance, and ageing does not affect the electrical resistance of both silver-coated yarns and fabrics till two washes and a slight change occurred after 3rd wash. The woven structure's mass per unit area decreases up to 7.69% and 3.7% for silver-coated and gold-coated samples, respectively. Woven samples conductivity for silver-coated structures decreased 95% and 98% for gold-coated structures.