Mechanics of Flexible and Stretchable Electronics

Abstract

This chapter presents an overview on the basic mechanical concepts concerning flexible and stretchable electronics. The fundamental information presented here provides sufficient knowledge to enable the design of flexible and stretchable electronics without any failure. The mechanics of flexible and stretchable electronics is basically related to the bending and stretching modes where the flexibility and the stretchability must be achieved in reversible deformations, with the deformation disappearing after unloading. The mechanical behavior of these deformation modes will be detailed in this chapter. Also, it should be noted that, under these deformations, the main factors to ensure the durability and the functionality of the flexible and stretchable electronics devices are the maximum allowable strain and number of cycles to failure. Therefore, we discuss the main failure mechanics under bending or stretching modes. We end this chapter with an overview on different types of available mechanical tests, which are achieved to predict the strain of materials and multilayer devices.