Design and development of an instrument for testing electrical insulation of technical textiles

Abstract

An attempt has been made to develop an instrument to measure the electrical insulation of technical textiles. Developed digital instrument measures resistance in terms of Mohm/Gohm in the transverse direction of textile material up to 2 cm thickness with 99.6% accuracy. The same sample has been tested 30 times and the deviation between minimum and maximum values is found insignificant at 1% confidence level. This instrument is user friendly, low cost, precise and easy to calibrate. Some tests using developed instrument show that the electrical resistance of fabric decreases with the increase in temperature, moisture content and area density of fabric. The electrical resistances, however, increases with thickness of fabric. The instrument is useful to understand the suitability of fabric for electrical insulating products like gloves, jackets, floor-covering, etc.