Trace width effects on electrical performance of screen-printed silver inks on elastomeric substrates under uniaxial stretch

This work investigates the origins of electrical performance degradation under uniaxial stretching of a silver filled polyurethane ink (DuPont PE 874) screen printed onto a thermoplastic polyurethane substrate. The ink develops surface ruptures at strains of only a few percent yet remains conductive through continued elongation. We identify increasing sensitivity to surface damage beyond 10% applied strain, ɛapp, as the trace width, w, is reduced from 2 to 0.1 mm. This lowers the threshold strain for open circuit failure, from approximately 180% for w = 2 mm down to 25% for w = 0.1 mm. The damage progression remains largely consistent across trace widths: surface cracks coalesce to form longer channels, which grow perpendicular to the direction of elongation. These channels both deepen and widen with increasing ɛapp and some become laterally linked. The evolution of the network of interlinked channels is not width dependent, but a width effect manifests as a result of the channels constituting a larger fraction of specimen width for narrower traces. In addition, the narrower traces exhibit reduced cross sections due to an edge taper—an artifact of the screen printing process—which attenuates ink thickness by as much as 50% for w = 0.1 mm.