Design and Optimization of an Injection-Moldable Force-Fit Interconnection Module for Smart Textile Applications
This work presents a polymer based force-fit interconnection module (Click-Bond) that can be used to establish reliable electrical and mechanical interconnections between electronic components and textile circuit boards at room temperature. It is an extremely fast and cost-efficient process that is able to bring smart textile applications into the mass market. The semi-crystalline polymer POM-C is selected as material. It has good physical properties and can be used in injection molding. After the design is made mechanical experiments are performed to analyze the maximum forces and stress relaxation of the modules. Additionally, the compressibility of fabrics is analyzed to be able to design the module to apply a certain pressure. Finally, a multi-terminal board is presented that allows to easily integrate more complex electronics boards into smart textiles.