Specialty Fabrics Review November 2022 - 40

[ MARKETS ] ADVANCED TEXTILES
standard will be very brief and focus on
the requirements, the task group did
not want to have that information go
unused, so a new task group is forming
to work on IPC-8961, Guideline on
E-Textile Wearables. This guideline will
provide best practices and useful information
for those interested in developing
e-textiles wearables. This will serve
as an educational resource, as well as
a suitable supplement to users of IPC8981
who may be looking for additional
background information on the characteristics
and testing of that standard.
A task group spent
nearly three years
working on standards
for required testing and
reliability expectations
for e-textiles
wearables products.
Embroidered e-textiles
In early summer 2022, an interest
group formed under the IPC
E-Textiles Committee to discuss
needs for standards for embroidered
e-textiles. Over the course of several
meetings, the group curated a list
of gaps in standardization, focusing
on materials, design requirements,
reliability, integration methods and
manufacturability.
An action team (IPC A-Team) from
the interest group is working through
that long list of topics to propose a
plan for standards development to the
full interest group. Any task groups
that form for embroidered e-textiles
will benefit from the work that has
been done by the preceding list of task
groups, which will have created new
IPC test methods, set reliability expectations
for products, and established
qualification expectations for materials,
which will help those groups speed the
time to market for their standards.
Significant opportunities
Many other IPC task groups develop
and maintain standards for additional
topics of interest to e-textiles product
developers, such as component
assembly, conductive and dielectric
inks, insulation materials and
40 SPECIALTY FABRICS REVIEW / November 2022
electronics design rules. These are
existing, well-established standards in
the electronics industry that are and
will continue to be referenced from
other IPC e-textiles standards and can
also be used as a starting point for new
IPC e-textiles standards.
Additionally, through IPC's
Factory of the Future Initiative, IPC
task groups have also developed
or are in the process of developing
industry standards covering topics
such as digital twin, supply chain
traceability, model-based definitions
for components, component-level
authentication and cybersecurity.
Many members from the IPC
E-Textiles Committee are also involved
in the development and maintenance
of these standards.
IPC task group action teams
(A-Teams) are small, highly dedicated
groups of individuals that take on tasks
such as developing draft content for
IPC international standards and test
methods and proposing resolutions
or comments on draft documents for
final consensus by the task group.
An individual or organization
wishing to participate in the
development of standards is invited
to join one of the task groups. Those
with the time and ability to play a more
active role may also wish to consider
joining an A-Team. These teams act in
the spirit and dedication of standards
development for the betterment of the
entire industry.
Chris Jorgensen is director, Technology Transfer, IPC.
He can be reached at ChrisJorgensen@ipc.org.
Want more? We have it!
Search e-textiles at
SpecialtyFabricsReview.com
http://www.SpecialtyFabricsReview.com
Specialty Fabrics Review November 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Specialty Fabrics Review November 2022
