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CONVENTIONAL OR CTS - DOUTHITT HAS THE OPTIMAL SOLUTION!

Model CTS Digital Screen Imager No film required - just print the image directly on the screen and expose. Print head technology with wax enables better image detail, density, and consistency in a fast robust system. Call us to see if CTS is right for you.

Douthitt sells the SignTronic StencilMasters for high quality direct screen imaging and exposing up to any size and can set up for automated in-line production. Illustration of a graphene molecule.

Inkjet Opportunity in Smart Where technology and garments converge

What’s Smart About Textiles? In the most basic smart textiles, for The term “smart textiles” currently example, you will find sensor hardware lacks a common definition. Functional attached to the product. The textile textiles, particularly those that respond to facilitates the wearing of the smart device thermal or other environmental stimuli, and enables data to be collected. The Model DMAX Model DMZ are often considered to be smart textiles. textile itself is not inherently smart. Such textiles actually fall into the “passive Growth of the smart textile market Model Sahara Screen Dryer Douthitt’s self contained screen exposure systems provide the textiles” category, and the smart nature of segment is likely to be facilitated by the According to Goldman • Uniform Air and Heat to Insure Fast best vacuum contact and the best registration. Combined with these fabrics is often displayed by color or declining average price of smart sensors our focused reflector metal halide printing lamps, our form change. globally. According to Goldman Sachs, Sachs, between 2004 and and Complete Drying of Screens There is an emerging consensus that between 2004 and 2014, the average cost • Digital Temperature Control units offer the sharpest resolution, best uniformity, shorter smart textiles should be defined as those of internet of things sensors dropped by 2014, the average cost of exposures and completely hardened emulsion. • Any Size Available that are “active” or “intelligent,” and as more than half from $1.30 to $0.60. This a result, electronic textiles are coming trend is anticipated to continue, with internet of things sensors Olec Olite & Theimer Violux Lamps & Parts in Stock! to the forefront. Thus, a smart textile prices expected to drop an additional 37% dropped by more than half can be defined as one that can sense by 2020 to $0.38. Contact us for more information on Douthitt’s complete line of CTS Imagers, Exposure Units, Vacuum Frames, its environment, respond and transfer In a more advanced smart textile, from $1.30 to $0.60. Dryers, Inspection Tables, High Wattage UV Printing Lamps, Integrators and Blankets for any vacuum frame. meaningful and useful information or sensing technology is integrated into the Visit us at www.douthittcorp.com energy. textile. The smart element can take the By necessity and design, smart textiles form of conductive inks printed onto the incorporate sensors, actuators, conductors fabric or metal fibres woven or knitted Once you’ve seen it you’ll never be satisfied until you own it and often a central processing unit or into the fabric. Sensors may be attached to transformer. Various materials can be used the textile as well; the sensors themselves to create smart textiles, and the necessary may also be printed, woven or knitted THE DOUTHITT CORPORATION conductive component can either be depending on the sophistication of the attached to the textile, integrated into the technology being used. Call Toll Free 1-800-DOUTHIT(T) • www.douthittcorp.com textile, or be a part of the textile itself. Finally, a smart textile’s conductive Phone 313-259-1565 Fax 313-259-6806 E-Mail [email protected] By Tansy Fall, Editor – Industry Digitalisation, World Textile Information Network (WTiN)

Visit SGIA at SGIA.org SGIA Journal ■ Spring 2019 | 5 Douthitt_Ad_012615.indd 1 1/26/15 8:44 AM Stretchable electronics. element can be a part of the textile itself. space, it is equally an emerging technology can withstand many wash cycles. The In this case, a textile or ’s fundamental in the wider textile and apparel market, technology is lightweight and does not structure will have been modified — providing scope for further advancement hinder material comfort, which is a key prior to extrusion of a polymer , for and market acquisition. Improvements end-user benefit. example, or using other emerging methods in printed electronics technology and Self-powering sensors can also be — enabling the textile itself to become rapid circuit prototyping are enabling printed using conductive inks. These conductive and/or sensory. manufacturers to more efficiently create sensors are often based on piezoelectricity, Intelligence from research, consulting these smart devices, speeding up the smart and the electronic signal is generated by and event firm IDTechEx suggests that this textiles’ development process. mechanical stress. As they do not require most advanced category of smart textiles is A larger variety in the type of printed an additional power source, these sensors growing significantly, with 38% of all electronics available is also increasing are the focus of much research exploring players in the smart textiles sector using adoption. For example, developments their sensing capabilities as well as their this technology in 2018, up 5% from the in stretchable electronics are playing a effectiveness as energy storage units. previous year. However, considering that key role in improving the flexibility and Pressure is used as a source signal in conductive textile fiber development is still comfort of electronic-embedded smart materials with soft switches, which utilize in its infancy, and these materials are often garments. a quantum tunneling composite that costly, there is a significant opportunity for Within the stretchable electronics changes properties upon pressure. Pressure conductive ink manufacturers, as well as sector, it is the interconnects that are first sensors are useful for creating products for technology providers who support this to market. For this purpose, conductive such as fabric keyboards and keypads. application, to dominate the sector. inks can be printed using both inkjet and Stretch sensors are also commonly used screen printing methods, and the inks to evaluate body and joint movements for Conductive Inks for Smart Textiles themselves can be tailored for printing applications in athlete training, patient Smart textiles that incorporate onto specific textile types to create an rehabilitation and firefighter monitoring. conductive inks make up 63% of the electrically active pattern. market, according to IDTechEx. While Companies such as DuPont have Embracing Graphene printing with conductive inks is already the already been able to create prototypes of Of the conductive inks on the market, dominant technology in the smart textile conductive inks that are stretchable and perhaps the most promising are those

6 | SGIA Journal ■ Spring 2019 Visit SGIA at SGIA.org that are graphene-based. Graphene, the — “that have shown graphene to be non- strongest material ever tested and much cytotoxic and non-genotoxic to human discussed across industries, conducts heat skin cells and murine lung cells, and and electricity efficiently, and is nearly confirmed that graphene did not harm transparent. Graphene’s highly conductive the viability of these cells for up to 24 - 72 nature has also allowed its reduction to hours, depending on the concentration graphene oxide (rGO), which is a slightly used (5 - 200 micrograms per milliliter),” less conductive form of graphene, but can Gharaei added. These studies can offer be easily printed while maintaining good some reassurance regarding the safety of conductivity. Others investing in graphene graphene. ink applications have investigated the inks that find graphene flakes dispersed in a Alternative Ink liquid, to ensure harmonized printability With these challenges in mind, and conductivity. conductive inks made using are Developments in Although graphene ink application is also an interesting area of development still not widely seen in the market, some for the textile industry. While there have stretchable electronics products are starting to emerge. UK-based been many instances of silver inks coming Cambridge Graphene recently entered into to market, perhaps the most significant are playing a key role in an agreement with an unnamed Asian breakthrough in this area comes from a improving the flexibility textiles manufacturer, for example, to collaborative project between Austrian supply its graphene ink for the creation of companies Profactor GmbH, Lenzing AG and comfort of electronic- smart sports apparel. These products will and Tiger Coatings GmbH. embedded smart enable wearers to monitor performance, Successfully completed in 2016, the health issues such as heart rate, and iTextil project culminated in the publication garments. optimum movements. of a paper on silver-based reactive inks for inkjet printing of conductive lines on Noting the Challenges textiles2. Nanotechnology experts spent In her recent report, “Graphene and its approximately two years conducting Opportunities for the Textile Industry”1, research for the ink’s development. Its WTiN Technical Analyst and Team primary selling point is that the ink is Leader for Material Innovation Robabeh based only on silver as a solute, with Gharaei, Ph.D., notes that while graphene every solid particle of silver having been has much potential, there are still a lot of removed. This makes the ink easier to jet challenges to overcome. through printheads. During printing, the This includes standardization, solvents in the ink evaporate leaving pure particularly around graphene quality and silver on the material. application. Graphene is produced through Though still in varying early research several different processes, each resulting and development phases, these emerging in materials with different properties. technologies and solutions will continue For example, one type of graphene may to advance the smart textiles market, be better suited to conducting heat adding unique capabilities and functions rather than electronics. Moreover, not all to garments. graphene is created equal, and this can lead to product variation, which makes for References complex supplier and buyer relationships. 1https://www.wtin.com/article/2018/ Another issue is cost, which is generally december/171218/graphene-and-its- high for graphene manufacturing due to opportunities-for-the-textile-industry- its market immaturity and the need for part-iii high-quality graphene sheets in many 2https://www.sciencedirect.com/ areas. Graphene flakes, the most affordable science/article/pii/S0167931717300527 form of graphene, can be purchased for an average of $50 - $100 per kilogram. Tansy Fall is Editor — Industry Safety is also a critical factor with Digitalisation at WTiN, a business-to- graphene. “Like many other nanomaterials, business market intelligence provider for the safety of graphene does not seem to be the textile industry, with print and digital completely clarified, especially when it publications. Tansy is the Editor for Digital comes to inhalation and exposure to skin,” Textile magazine, which focuses on the said Gharaei. digital sector, and IoTex The good news is that there have been magazine, which provides an insight into studies conducted on research grade and the complete digitalization of the textile commercial graphene-based materials — and apparel value chain, as well as for their such as few-layer graphene GO and rGO corresponding online platforms.

Visit SGIA at SGIA.org SGIA Journal ■ Spring 2019 | 7