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IPC COMMUNITY 53 SUMMER 2023 IPC COMMUNITY 53 SUMMER 2023 Mills (Bally, Pennsylvania), one of our many IPC A-Team members who capture the spirit and camaraderie of what it means to be on an IPC A-Team. He even took a selfie with "Big E. Gnome" during a meeting break at Gno- meapalooza 2022 (our annual A-Team working meetings), and received his first award during the 2023 IPC Golden Gnome Awards. The Fabricators This A-Team formed around the same time as Hangin' By a Thread to work on the revision of IPC-8921, IPC's first published e-textiles standard. IPC-8921 establishes the classifica- tion system as well as qualification and qual- ity conformance requirements affecting the electrical/electronic performance of woven, knitted, and braided e-textiles integrated with conductive yarns and/or wires. This revision will reference an additional 15 new IPC Test Methods for e-textiles durability and expo- sure, which are being developed by The Termi- nators as part of their work on IPC-8981 (more on that to follow). The development of those new IPC Test Methods are critical to the advancement of IPC-8921A because it will reference many, if not all, of those new methods. A-Team leader Sahar Rostami of Myant (Toronto, AB, Canada) has been very active in developing many of those draft methods. Smarties and The Terminators Now, about those 15 new IPC Test Methods… In 2020, Smarties A-Team was formed to undertake the development of IPC-8981, Quality and Reliability of E-Textiles Wear- ables, which will establish required testing and reliability expectations for e-textiles wear- ables products. This standard will set testing requirements for mechanical and exposure characteristics that would apply to e-textile wearables systems. These include exposure to acid, microbes, salt water, perspiration, and alkali; endurance to abrasion, stretch, torsion, and flexing; and washability. For almost two years, Smarties volunteers developed content on each of the charac- teristics, including an explanation of each, a test procedure if no test standards existed (Guess how that went?), and proposed prod- uct performance expectations based on the IPC Classes. When that group completed its work in mid-2022, another A-Team called The Terminators was formed to "terminate" the remaining action items so the draft IPC-8981 and its 15 IPC Test Methods could be available for industry. Thanks to the efforts of Smarties and The Terminators, which are led by Vladan Koncar Examples of woven (top) and braided (bottom) e-textiles. (Courtesy of ENSAIT) Sahar Rostami taking the charge for The Fabricators.