MSc. eng.

Ewa Skrzetuska,
Professor Izabella Krucinska Ph.D., D.Sc.
Ph.D.eng. Wiesława Urbaniak-Domagała

Technical University of Lodz,

Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology 
Center of Advanced Technologies of Human Friendly Textiles
The demand for new applications in the field of so-
called smart textiles for health monitoring are having
a high necessity of new techniques to successfully
miniaturize and implantable electronics, optics and
sensors into fabrics and garments.
The development of new textile sensors provides
opportunities for making various types of sensors,
including printed sensors that arouse greater and
greater interest.

Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology

Printing technology has been successfully
implemented in the textile industry, allowing the
production of multifunctional garments.
The use of smart textiles gives many benefits
associated with possible monitoring the human
body's responses to many stimuli and factors.

Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology

The main advantages of this type of products are:
- increased comfort of use,
- high elasticity,
- low rigidity compared with conventional electrical
sensors,
- the user’s ease of moving, by eliminating rigid
elements connecting the sensors with textiles,
- dimensions of the sensors.

Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology

Most of these sensors are based on microelectronic
devices or conductive polymers which are integrated
with the fabric structure or are part of the fibrous
structure themselves.
The vision of using smart clothing describes future
electronic systems as an integral part of our everyday
clothes

Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology

Printing is regarded as an attractive technology of
creating electroconductive transmission lines on
fabrics resulting in smart textiles. The printing
technology of electroconductive transmission lines
has the broad application in the microelectronics but
is mainly used on the lamina, foil, glass and flat
surface of polymers. Most of the used conductive inks
contain nanoparticles of silver, gold, copper, and their
blends as well silver nitrate. Unfortunately in most
cases of the deposition process a temperature above
200 ° C is needed, which should be avoided in the case
of textiles .
Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology
The authors focused their attention on a new area of
research consisting in imparting electro-conductive
properties to textiles by printing techniques. This
research direction was dictated by the need for
developing reliable, handy health monitoring systems

Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology

The authors used an aqueous dispersion of carbon
nanotubes AquaCyl as a functional carrier adapted at
the Department of Material and Commodity Sciences
and Textile Metrology to form electroconductive
transmission lines by the method of screen printing.
It was assumed that the resultant electroconductive
transmission lines would be sensitive to deformation.
The modification of the aqueous dispersion of carbon
nanotubes was aimed at the preparation of a bi-
functional – electroconductive and bacteriostatic -
printing composition, which is extremely important
for applications in sensors, medical materials, in
contact with the human body.
The aqueous dispersion of carbon nanotubes the trade
name AquaCyl (AQ0101) from Nanocyl was used for the
investigations.
Physical properties of Carbon Nanotubes:
- components: water dyspersion from 0.5 to 1.5%
of
MWCNT of the Nanocyl®7000 series.
- viscosity – 36 cps
- surface tension - 57,6 mN/m
- pH 7
These parameters were determined at temperature 25 oC.
Additionally the dispersion contains a dispersing agent in a
quantity of 0.1-3% .
Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology
The dispersion was modified with sodium lauryl
sulfate. To prepare a printing paste, a selected cross-
linking composition of a photo-initiator and aliphatic
urethane acrylate was added to the dispersion. The
resultant printing paste was deposited on knitted
fabric with the use of printing screens either on its
whole surface or as electro-conductive paths of
various widths depending on needs.

Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology

The main objective of the study was to prepare
sensitive sensors to mechanical deformation. The
sensitivity of printed fabrics to elastic strain was
assessed on the basis of changes in the electrical
caused by the mechanical stimulus used. The kinetics
of changes in resistance under the influence of the
stimulus applied was recorded using a Keithley digital
multimeter.

Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology

The positive effect of our study resulted in a prototype
of a glove responsive to finger movements

Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology

The second prototype proposed consists of a band
reacting to the movement of user’s chest, allowing the
monitoring of his/her respiration

Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology

Recording the signal of flexion and extension of the
index finger.
 

Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology

Recording the signal of breath monitoring by means
of a non-contact sensor after 10 minutes of physical
effort

Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology

Recording the signal of breath monitoring by means
of a non-contact sensor during rest.
 

Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology

The use of the technique of screen printing to
produce resistance sensors on textile substrates makes
it possible to inexpensively and simply make smart
textiles useful in many areas of life.
The prototype elastic band obtained can successfully
replace the rigid plastic bands used so far by runners.
They can also be used to monitor the breath regularity
of seriously sick persons.
The glove proposed can serve the blind to read Braille,
by converting electrical signals into digital data.
Clothes provided with integrated sensors create
significant expectations for the future of health care,
sports and military applications. The proposed non-
invasive monitoring based on smart textiles still
requires a lot of attention connected with the
calibration of sensors and interconnection between
the power source and the substrate textiles.

Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology

 Thank you
for your attention 

Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology