Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 February 2014
Stretchable wires were printed on fabrics using an acrylic-based paste loaded with Ag flakes, and their fatigue properties examined. The electrical conductivity of the wires significantly decreased during a cyclic tensile test, because of a decrease in their elastic moduli (Mullins softening) as well as fatigue cracking. Because the electrical resistance and elastic moduli of the damaged samples were partially recovered by annealing at 100 °C, fatigue damage introduced to the wires was divided into reversible and irreversible components, where cracking is the irreversible damage. Although crack bridging by fibrils could occur during the fatigue test, no crack healing was observed during annealing. In contrast, fatigue damage from Mullins softening of the wires could be recovered during annealing. The recovery of electrical conductivity occurs mostly in the initial stage of rearrangement of polymer structure during annealing.