Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1475604
AUGUST 2022 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 79 Wagner: e nice thing about printed electronics is that it's primarily an additive pro- cess, as opposed to subtrac- tive process, and we can do it in our shop. Lee: Do the wearables wear out? Is there obsolescence about them eventually? Wagner: Sure. From what we see in garments, they'll have abrasion issues aer a while. Just like with any clothes, you can get fibers that break down from wearing and washing them. But, depending on the market, if it's medical, it doesn't have to last 10 years. It's lasting maybe a diagnostic period, for a few weeks or a month, for example, or maybe 25, 30, or 50 washes. So, it's not necessarily meant to be highly durable at this point. It will come as the inks are developed further along in the process. But right now, there is some finite life to that. Bianchi: ere are more medical applications than consumer applications for wearables right now, in terms of maybe a garment or in a T-shirt. ey do exist and they're out there, but from our perspective, it's more in the med- ical field. Wagner: From our customer base and per- spective, we're seeing from the biometric side of it, a split between sports monitoring and medical garments. But from the heater stand- point, it's almost all OEM-type clothing and some things that already have heating and they're looking for a different technology to put into those. Shaughnessy: Polymer thick f ilm printed electronics are not good for high-temperature applica- tions. What are your thoughts on that? Miller: ere are polymer thick films we're using in heater applications and other types of things. It is high- temperature circuit. You have to look at the substrate that you're putting it on, which is key here. When you look at PET, it does have a much lower operating tempera- ture. But there are applica- tions where you can print polymer thick films onto polyimide films, onto other types of sub- strates that are much higher temperature. Voultos: Yes, polymer thick film (PTF) inks have their limitations, however, companies like DuPont and Nagase, as well as others, continue to develop inks by developing addi- tives to the metals and polymers, which leads to new possibilities. Shaughnessy: Printed electronics is only suitable for very large vol- umes, for instance, screen print- ing, flexographic printing. I guess that's basically saying it's only suit- able for large volumes. Bianchi: I would suggest that's definitely a myth because the benefit of the screen-printing process is you can do low a n d h i g h v o l u m e s ; a n d low, medium, and high volumes. You don't need to set up a flex graphic press or even a rotary press and print for three days in a row. You can set up and print for two hours, and then do a changeover and print another job that's a similar volume. Wagner: When you're screen printing, it's so easy to do prototyping on a screen press, as opposed to something rolled, right? ere's a much shorter span of time to get that product out. Just think about applications, like Tom said. If you consider membrane switches to be printed electronics or capacitive touch, it's a John Lee