A novel technique for direct measurements of contact resistance between interlaced conductive yarns in a plain weave. Issue 5 (March 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gunnarsson, Emanuel; Karlsteen, Magnus; Berglin, Lena; Stray, Jonas
• Is Part Of: Textile research journal. Volume 85:Issue 5(2015)
• Page Start: 499
• Page End: 511
• Publication Date: 2015-03
• Subjects: Testing -- Fabrication -- weaving -- Fabrication -- measurement -- Materials; Textile industry -- Periodicals; Textile fabrics -- Periodicals; Textile research -- Periodicals; Textiles et tissus -- Industrie et commerce -- Périodiques; Textiles et tissus -- Périodiques; Textiles et tissus -- Recherche -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 677.005
• DOI: 10.1177/0040517514532158
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0040-5175

Abstract

Contact resistance between interlaced conductive yarns will under certain circumstances constitute a problem for sensor applications and electrical routing in interactive textile structures. This type of resistance could alter the effective area of the sensor and introduce hot-spots in the routing. This paper presents a technique for measuring contact resistances on fabric samples. The samples used are unit cells of plain weave, that is, two conductive (silver-coated) yarns in the warp direction and two in the weft direction. The numerical values for the contact resistance are of the order of Rc ≈ 0.3 Ω. A resistor network made of through-hole film resistors with known values is used for evaluation of the method. The results show that the technique provides values typically within ±1% error compared with the known resistor values. Thus, the method can be used in order to calculate the contact resistances of a woven conductive textile.