Additive manufacturing: A new twist for stretchable electronics?
Electronic components that can be elongated or twisted -- known as "stretchable" electronics -- could soon be used to power electronic gadgets, the onboard systems of vehicles, medical devices and other products. And a 3-D printing-like approach to manufacturing may help make stretchable electronics more prevalent, say researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Writing in the January 2017 edition of the journal Micromachines, Missouri S&T researchers assess the current state of the emerging field of stretchable electronics, focusing on a type of conductor that can be built on or set into the surface of a polymer known as elastomer.
These conductors could one day replace the rigid, brittle circuit board that powers many of today's electronic devices. They could be used, for example, as wearable sensors that adhere to the skin to monitor heart rate or brain activity, as sensors in clothing or as thin solar panels that could be plastered onto curved surfaces.
Key to the future of stretchable electronics is the surface, or substrate. Elastomer, as its name implies, is a flexible material with high elasticity, which means that it can be bent, stretched, buckled and twisted repeatedly with little impact on its performance.
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