Washing Durability of PDMS-Conductive Fabric Composite: Realizing Washable UHF RFID Tags

Simorangkir, Roy B. V. B.; Le, Duc; Bjorninen, Toni; Sayem, Abu Sadat Md.; Zhadobov, Maxim; Sauleau, Ronan

Abstract

In this letter, we present experimental investigations on washing durability of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-conductive fabric composite to validate its applicability for the realization of flexible wearable antennas that can withstand multiple washing cycles. For this purpose, we designed an ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) passive tag antenna and fabricated several prototypes using such materials combination. Understanding the challenge of having a robust integration of a lumped electronic component (e.g., RFID IC) on a flexible antenna, a new way to improve the interconnection has also been investigated. The tag prototypes were subjected to recurrent machine-washing tests, and after each washing cycle, their performance was analyzed mainly in terms of the read range. The results reveal that, with a proper treatment on the antenna-IC fixture interconnection, the tag antennas developed with the PDMS-conductive fabric composite can maintain their performance very well, showing a minimum degradation in the read range after 15 cycles of washing.

Citation

Simorangkir, R. B. V. B., Le, D., Bjorninen, T., Sayem, A. S. M., Zhadobov, M., & Sauleau, R. (2019). Washing Durability of PDMS-Conductive Fabric Composite: Realizing Washable UHF RFID Tags. IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, 18(12), 2572-2576. https://doi.org/10.1109/lawp.2019.2943535

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Sep 24, 2019
• Publication Date: 2019-12
• Deposit Date: Oct 19, 2023
• Journal: IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
• Print ISSN: 1536-1225
• Electronic ISSN: 1548-5757
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 12
• Pages: 2572-2576
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/lawp.2019.2943535
• Keywords: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1792004