Can conductive fabrics be washed?

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dmlinke
 
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Can conductive fabrics be washed?

Post by dmlinke »

Hi there, I am looking for a conductive fabric to be sewn into a sports shirt and found and tested this fabric https://www.adafruit.com/product/1364.
The description says that it is recommended to dry clean it. Do you have any experience with whether it loses its conductivity when washed?
Or can you recommend a more suitable fabric for sports purposes?
Thanks!

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Can conductive fabrics be washed?

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

dmlinke wrote:Do you have any experience with whether it loses its conductivity when washed?
The fabric has a single strand of silver thread that runs back and forth through the weave. Regular washing creates lots of flexing, which can break and/or fray the conductive strand. The resistance won't change much, but you'll end up with random spots that are no longer connected.
dmlinke wrote:Or can you recommend a more suitable fabric for sports purposes?
It depends heavily on the sport and what you want to do. Wearable electronics still have a fairly strong tradeoff between flexibility and durability.

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dmlinke
 
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Re: Can conductive fabrics be washed?

Post by dmlinke »

Thanks a lot for the response. Do you see a particular problem with the fabric coming into contact with sweat?
For example, is it known that sweat has a detrimental effect on silver?

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Can conductive fabrics be washed?

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

That depends on body chemistry.

The silver will have a protective layer of oxide, and sweat contains various kinds of salt. There's a chance they could interact, but it depends on the exact chemicals and will happen slowly. My sweat happens to strip aluminum anodizing and etch aluminum if I handle objects long enough.

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