• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.686-695
• /
• 2020

The present study evaluated the manual dexterity and usability of conductive gloves when operating touchscreen devices in the cold. Twelve male subjects (23.3±1.5 years in age) participated in three experimental conditions: no gloves, fabric conductive and lambskin conductive gloves. Manual dexterity was tested using both Purdue Pegboard (PP) and ASTM dexterity tests at an air temperature of 5℃ and air humidity of 30%RH. Glove usability was tested through the following touchscreen tests: tap, double tap, long tab, drag, flick, and multi-touch. The results showed that manual dexterity according to the PP (2.5 mm of a pin diameter) and ASTM tests (8 mm of a stick diameter) was worse for the two glove conditions than for the no glove condition (p<.005). PP dexterity was better for the fabric glove condition than for the lambskin glove condition (p<.05); however, there was no difference in ASTM dexterity between the two glove conditions. Hand and finger skin temperatures were higher for the glove conditions than the bare hand condition (p<.05), with no differences between the two glove conditions. The touchscreen usability was the best for the no glove condition, followed by fabric gloves (p<.05). Wearing either fabric or lambskin gloves diminishes hand dexterity while maintaining hand and finger temperatures at higher levels. For improved hand dexterity in dealing with small numbers, letters on a touchscreen in cold environments, we recommend wearing fabric conductive gloves rather than lambskin conductive gloves.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.1018-1023
• /
• 2012

Smartphone is integrated into the daily lives of all types of people not even young generation. A touch screen display is a primary input device of a smart phone, a tablet computer, etc. While there are many tough technologies in existence, resistive and capacitive are dominant and currently lead the touch screen panel industry. And a capacitive touch screen panel widely used in smart phones is coated with a material that stores electrical charges. In this study, we tried to manufacture gloves produced with electro-conducting leather as a tool to operate a touch panel screen. Therefore, electrically conductive materials, Polyaniline(PANI), Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), and Carbon nanotubes (CNT) were applied to the surface of leather to be used as a touching operator for capacitive touch screen panel. The leather samples were treated by simple painting method; firstly, they were painted with aqueous solution containing each of the electrically conductive materials and then dried. This cycle was repeated three times. Consequently, the treated leather samples showed electrical conductivity and reasonable working performance to the capacitive touch screen. And, PANI showed the best performance and highest electrical conductivity, and then PEDOT and, CNT in decreasing order. This is because the solubilities of PANI and PEDOT show higher than dispersibility of CNT. Thus, the concentration of conducting polymers was greater than that of CNT in the treating solutions.