• Design & Manufacturing
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2019

Recently, studies on the development of flexible electronic devices by combining flexible materials and a conductor have been actively performed as interest in wearable devices. Especially, carbon nanotubes (CNT) or graphene coating have been used to construct a circuit to induce improvement in flexibility and rigidity. Various technologies have been developed in the surface coating of conductive materials, which are key to the manufacture of flexible electronic devices. Surface coating products with 3D coating and micro-patterns have been proposed through electrospinning, electrification, and 3D printing technologies. As a result of this advanced surface coating technology, there is a growing interest in manufacturing gradient conductive surfaces. Gradient surfaces have the advantage that they are adapted to apply a gentle change or to inspect optimum conditions in a particular region by imparting continuously changing properties. In this study, we propose a manufacturing technique to produce a continuous gradient conductive surface by combining a partial stretching of elastomer and a conductive material coating, and introduce experimental results to confirm its performance.