ELECTRONIC TEXTILE & SMART TEXTILE

An appreciation of the advancement made in the smart performance and application of textile articles is definitely interesting for those learning and working in the areas of smart textiles, and at the same time it indicates the directions currently pursued in smart textile research and development.

The unique combination of properties like flexibility, softness, permeability, strength, thermal, and electrical resistance of textiles provides several reasons to attract the innovation interest for research and development. Such combination of properties is not seen in several other materials including metal, ceramic, plastic, wood, glass, paper etc. It has resulted in attractive interdisciplinary applications of textiles where electronic textiles are setting interesting examples. The time has come when user will see the electronics that are wearable and water- washable.

Electronic textiles (e- textiles) are the textile fabrics with electronics and interconnections woven in their structure. They possess the physical flexibility and size not known in conventional electronics. Components and interconnections are intrinsic to the fabric structure with reduced chance to be seen, tangled together or snagged by the surroundings. Thinking for electronics that can be draped over a vehicle or a tank is achievable using textile fabrics.

The use of fabric as station to deploy electrical components results in wearable electrical/ computing devices. It makes easier to move with computing devices with less consumption of human energy and efforts. Moreover the flexibility of fabric provides the opportunity to modify the shape for conforming new requirements of applications. The relative position of components including sensors, actuators, processing elements can be altered.