Electrical circuit model of elastic and conductive yarns produced by hollow spindle spinning

The implementation of electronic textiles which are capable of being applied as electrodes, sensors or heating elements is crucial in several fields of application, ranging from automotive to sports, from rehabilitation to art and design. However, current electronic textiles often suffer from poor mechanical properties, low drape and unstable electroconductive characteristics. One possibility to overcome these shortcomings is to introduce the electroconductive properties at a fibre or yarn level by combining traditional fibres and yarns with metal wires or metalised yarns. In this paper, we describe the production of multicomponent yarns which combine electroconductive properties with elasticity, drape and mechanical strength. We discuss the electroconductive properties of the yarns produced with hollow spinning technology. An electrical model based on Kirchhoff's law was designed and validated with the abovementioned measurements.