Liquid metals never cease to amaze. In e-textiles, they offer the potential to have highly conductive wires that can be washed and highly stretched! One interesting application is in digital embroidery of electronic textiles using liquid metal fibers. Dr. Yong Lin Yong from University of UTah presented some interesting work at a recent TechBlick conference [May 2023]. This work was a collaboration with Prof. @John Ho from National University of Singapore Join us and the global community in Berlin on 17-19 OCT 2023 to RESHAPE the Future of Electronics - explore the world-class agenda, masterclass programme, and expo floor here https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped Here, off-the-shelf PFA is filled with liquid metals using a syringe to form a stretchable conductive thread [600um diameter] which could be embroidered. As seen in slide [1] the resistivity per length is better than most ink or coated conductive thread solutions, although of course bulk Cu metal wires are still more conductive. Theses liquid metal filled conductive threads can then be digitally embroidered using embroidery machines [slide 2] to make, for example, antennas with high Q-factors [slide 3] Slide [3] compares the resistivity of liquid metal filled fibers [M3] against Cu wires [M1] and conductive threads [M2]. Cu wires beat liquid metals in conductivity but fall short on stretchability [see how they break] whilst liquid metals beat conductive threads. Thus liquid metals are a good solution for embr...

Morten Lindberget | VP Business Development and Sales
CondAlign develops and produces adhesive anisotropic conductive films, based on their unique technology. These adhesive ACFs combine unique properties making them very well suited for room temperature bonding in the printed, flexible and hybrid electronics area. They do not require any post processing, and are ideal for efficiently bonding to temperature sensitive substrates, for instance in a pick and place process. This enables designs and applications beyond today’s traditional limits, taking care of the function and performance in a sustainable and cost efficient...

Marco de Luca Division Manager Flexible Substrates...

David Britton | Director Just over a decade ago, PST Sensors in South Africa introduced its first printed temperature sensor – a simple NTC thermistor printed on paper using its first-generation semiconducting silicon ink. In 2023, PST Sensors Europe in the UK is now implementing PST’s fourth generation sensor ink in EV batteries, agrifoodtech and healthtech. The latest generation of inks exhibit improved adhesion to a wide range of substrates - including polyimide, aramid and, polycarbonate – as well excellent stability which, when combined with internet connectivity and real-time predictive analysis, enables all of the applications which will be discussed....

Neil Chilton Technical Director With an increasingly large number of electronic additive-manufacturing processes available, it can be confusing to know which methods are applicable for your application. Printed Electronics Limited (PEL) is a manufacturer and product development company with very long experience printable electronics. PEL also represent some of the leading equipment manufacturers in the industry. In this short presentation we will provide some key pointers to assist in the choice of equipment and manufacturing approach....

Amin M'BARKI Co-Founder & CEO...

Duncan Platt Group Manager...

Mass manufacturing electronic textiles and in doing so combining textile fibers/garments as well as textile based wiring and sensors with PCB electronics is no easy task. A critical manufacturing challenge here has always been the creation of a reliable high-quality connection between textile wiring/sensors and PCBs/rigid components using a mass manufacturing machine. ZSK has innovated to solve this issue for embroidered electronic textiles. ZSK will be exhibiting in Berlin at TechBlick's event on RESHAPING ELECTRONICS. Please join us and the entire global community on 17-18 OCT 2023. Lear more here https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped Solving the textile-to-PCB connection issue As you can see in slide [1], typically PCBs do not lend themselves well to embroidery of electronics. This is because one often has loose connections, because the high thickness and the sharp edges act as failure points and because the large holes allow movement which loosens the connections. This means that it is not easy to achieve automatic manufacturing with standard PCBs in a reliable way. This is why - as shown in slide [2] - ZSK developed the ZSK E-Tex-Board, which addresses the above mentioned issues, optimizing the board geometry (hole size, smooth edges, thickness, outer line design, etc) for mass embroidered e-textiles combining textiles wiring/sensors with PCBs. As shown in slide [3], these special boards are also compatible with automatic placement machines, enabling a fully au...