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    Content by Mika Satomi and Hannah Perner-Wilson
    E-Textile Tailor Shop by KOBAKANT
    The following institutions have funded our research and supported our work:

    Since 2020, Hannah is guest professor of the Spiel&&Objekt Master's program at the University of Performing Arts Ernst Busch in Berlin

    From 2013-2015 Mika was a guest professor at the eLab at Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee

    From July - December 2013 Hannah was a researcher at the UdK's Design Research Lab

    From 2010-2012 Mika was a guest researcher in the Smart Textiles Design Lab at The Swedish School of Textiles

    From 2009 - 2011 Hannah was a graduate student in the MIT Media Lab's High-Low Tech research group led by Leah Buechley


    In 2009 Hannah and Mika were both research fellows at the Distance Lab


    Between 2003 - 2009 Hannah and Mika were both students at Interface Cultures
    We support the Open Source Hardware movement. All our own designs published on this website are released under the Free Cultural Works definition
    Conductive Materials

    Resistive and Piezoresistive Fabrics

    Resistive fabrics tend to have an increasing resistance across distance and are great for making potentiometers and location sensors. Piezoresistive fabrics are often also resistive across distance (x,y) but have a resistance that decreases under pressure (mechanical stress) through the material (z). These materials are great for making pressure, bend and often stretch sensors. There are a range of resistive fabrics available on the market, often sold for anti-static and electromagnetic field (EMF) shielding purposes.

    Here are some of our examples made using the resistive and piezoresistive properties of fabrics:
    Fabric stretch sensors >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=210
    Simple pressure sensors >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=232
    Piezoresistive Fabric Touchpad >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=3223
    Squeeze sensors >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=3175

    Piezo/resistive Fabrics

    One range of piezoresistive fabrics are made by coating regular fabrics in an inherently conductive polymer. These are patented processes and so far I know that Eeonyx and Panipol are two companies producing such polymers. Marktek retails EeonTex fabrics.
    >> http://www.hitek-ltd.co.uk/ (UK)
    >> http://eeonyx.com/ (USA)
    >> http://www.marktek-inc.com/eeontexconductextiles.htm (USA)
    >> http://www.panipol.fi/ (Finland)

    EeonTex Conductive Fabrics

    Eeonyx is a company that has developed a propriety coating system with which they can coat almost any fabric (wovens, non-wovens, felts and knits of polyester, nylon, glass, quartz, spandex, polyolefins, and aramids) in an inherently conducting polymer (polypyrrole, PPY).
    The coating uniformly covers the individuals fibers of the fabric, making them conductive/resistive and also black or dark gray, but the feel of the fabric itself remains pretty much the same as the coating process barely affects the strength, drape, flexibility, and porosity of the starting substrates.
    EeonTex fabrics are customized for desired electrical resistance, thickness, porosity, strength, stretchability…
    Depending on the base fabric, EeonTex fabrics can possess surface resistance between 10 Ohm/sq and 10 billion Ohm/sq.

    Unfortunately Eeonyx does not supply free samples or small sample orders any longer.
    But HITEK now sell Eeonyx fabrics in small quantities (1m)!!!

    Non-woven fabrics for pressure sensors

    Stretchy fabrics for stretch sensors
    The numbers in the first image correspond with the material data in the second image.

    Unknown resistive felt
    Passed on to me from Eeonyx.

    Anti-static Glove

    A knit fabric from green/white yarn mixed with a restive thread.
    >> http://www.et-esd.de/ (DE)
    >> http://www.all-spec.com/1/viewitem/A205/ALLSPEC/prodinfo/w3path=cat (USA)

    Anti-static Fabric

    This fabric sold by LessEMF has resistive fibers woven into it in a diamond pattern. Unfortunately this fabric is not able replace Velostat in the pressure sensors, since it is very unstable.

    Unknown Black Fabric

    A black woven fabric with a white non-conductive backing. It is sensitive to pressure, about 200 – 30 Ohm per cm, depending on how hard I pressure the measuring points into the fabric.

    Piezo/resistive Yarn

    The following stainless steel and polyester yarn also has piezo/resistive properties.
    >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=1978

    12 Comments so far

    1. Felicia on September 7th, 2011

      Hi, can i ask if you’ve any idea to get the material, velostat? I don’t need so much of it, just a little will do. And is Linstat’s functionality similar to velostat? I’m currently looking for this material urgently, would appreciate if you get back to me asap. Thanks!

    2. admin on September 7th, 2011

      we have a separate post on velostat/linqstat: http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=381
      here you will find all the details!

    3. Tommy on September 15th, 2011

      Hi, does anyone know were I can get resistive fabric in the UK. It would be for a potentiometer? I can’t actually find any of these for sale… Thanks.

    4. admin on September 15th, 2011

      unfortunately i don’t know of an Eeontex distributor, but try emailing them for samples.
      >> http://eeonyx.com/contact.php

      Velostat, even though it is a plastic film, is also great for making resistive tracks for potentiometers. this website lists a UK distributor:
      >> http://www.stopabductions.com/location.htm

    5. yolanda on July 26th, 2012

      Hi Sir or Madam

      AnHui Lineo New Material CO.,LTD in China is here.

      We are engaged in producing anti-static fiber,conductive fiber, anti-static gloves yarn

      for anti-static fabric.

      The good quality and the competitive price we have.

      If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact with me.

      Waiting for your reply.

      Best Regards
      Yolanda

      Company: Anhui Lineo New Material CO., LTD
      Tel:86-0552-2808555
      Skype:yolanda_lineo
      Address:WuHe county,Bangbu of Anhui Province in China
      E-mail:Lineogroup1@gmail.com

    6. Khurram Siddiqi on June 11th, 2013

      Hi there, I’m trying to work with a glove that needs to let me know how much the hand is flexing. i.e. clenched fist, or open palm sort of thing. One way is to use bend sensors or just strips of resistive fabric, but in your opinion, what if the whole glove was not neoprene, but resistive fabric? Do you think there would be too much noise? I imagine the calibration would take some work, but if you’ve had any experience with it, I’d love to hear.

      Thanks!
      Khurram

    7. admin on June 11th, 2013

      hi khurram, i think looking to sense hand movements and gestures using a glove made of piezoresistive fabric. i have made one prototype where the inner side of the glove is resistive fabric and one the back side i sew the contact points. see more here:
      >> http://theglovesproject.com/xosc-gloves/
      i would love to hear your input!

    8. Mahantesh on June 25th, 2013

      Can anyone tell me from where(Website) can I buy this in India?

    9. Ben Potter on October 28th, 2013

      Greetings from the UK!

      I am trying to make a breathing monitor for biofeedback. Deep breathing lowers blood pressure, it seems. So I would like to measure chest expansion and need a strip of material to incorporate in a band – what would you advise? I propose to use either my Raspberry Pi for the electronics, or perhaps an Arduino for a portable version.

      Any advice would be much appreciated!

      Ben

    10. David McAllister on April 25th, 2014

      HITEK Electronic Materials are the UK distributors for Eeonyx materials.
      We would be happy to talk to any customers about the range of resistive fabrics.

    11. Liza Stark | Stretch Sensor on August 15th, 2015

      […] substrate. For more information on resistive and piezoresistive fabrics, see Kobakant’s post here and the datasheet […]

    12. […] substrate. For more information on resistive and piezoresistive fabrics, see Kobakant’s post here and the datasheet […]

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