Design and development of a stretchable electronic textile and its application in a knee sleeve targeting wearable pain management

This paper presents the development of a stretchable electronic textile (e-textile) and the design of a knee sleeve with integrated electrodes for wearable applications. The e-textile is achieved by laminating a printed conductive pattern onto knitted fabric, followed by printing a carbon rubber electrode layer on top of the conductive pads of the conductive pattern. The Young’s modulus of two knitted stretchable fabrics, made of different textile yarns, is tested and their impact on the e-textile and garment properties is discussed. Four printed conductive track designs in the form of a straight line, a sine wave, a half circle, and a horseshoe are laminated on these fabrics. The four designs are investigated in terms of conductivity, change during stretching, relaxation after stretching, and wash durability. A snap connector, attached to each end of the conductive tracks, provides electronic interconnection. The e-textiles survive 100 wash cycles with a resultant maximum resistance increase of 1.44 times. A fitted knee sleeve, for use in wearable electrotherapy for knee joint pain management, is fabricated by laminating a conductive track in the optimal sinusoidal design and then printing carbon rubber electrodes on top.