{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,7]],"date-time":"2026-08-07T16:48:49Z","timestamp":1786121329966,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]],"date-time":"2026-08-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785888000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"UK Government Turing Scheme"},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010016","name":"Nottingham Trent University","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["AH\/V012460\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AH\/V012460\/1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010016","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["AH\/V012460\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AH\/V012460\/1"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04xyxjd90","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Polymers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study presents a standalone yarn-level assessment of the mechanical and functional durability of polymer-encapsulated electronic yarns (E-yarns) for wearable electronic textile applications. The investigated E-yarns consisted of miniaturised electronic components soldered onto fine conductive wires, protected by polymer encapsulation, and enclosed within braided textile yarn structures. This heterogeneous architecture enables textile-compatible functionality but creates local regions that may be susceptible to damage under various deformation modes. E-yarns incorporating light-emitting diode, photodiode, and resistor components were evaluated under cyclic bending fatigue, torsional fatigue, quasi-static tensile loading, and wash durability conditions. Electrical measurements were used to monitor functional degradation and failure, while X-ray imaging, scanning electron microscopy and finite element analysis were used to examine structural damage, failure localisation, fracture surface morphology, and local stress and strain distribution. The results show that E-yarn durability depended on the imposed loading condition, with distinct mechanical and functional responses observed across the different test modes. The polymer-encapsulated region emerged as a mechanically important feature of the E-yarn architecture, particularly at transitions between encapsulated and non-encapsulated regions. By addressing multiple deformation and loading conditions at the standalone yarn level, this work provides a systematic reliability assessment of polymer-encapsulated E-yarns, enabling intrinsic failure mechanisms to be distinguished from textile integration effects and supporting the development of more reliable yarn-based electronic textiles.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/polym18151923","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]],"date-time":"2026-08-05T16:48:08Z","timestamp":1785948488000},"page":"1923","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Mechanical Durability of Polymer-Encapsulated Electronic Yarns for Electronic Textile Applications"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-6122-8897","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tharushi","family":"Peiris","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Advanced Textiles Research Group, Nottingham School of Art and Design, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG7 4HF, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9881-4736","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lukas","family":"Werft","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM, 13355 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6364-655X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sigrid","family":"Rotzler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM, 13355 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7780-3122","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Arash M.","family":"Shahidi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Advanced Textiles Research Group, Nottingham School of Art and Design, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG7 4HF, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kalana","family":"Marasinghe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Advanced Textiles Research Group, Nottingham School of Art and Design, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG7 4HF, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carlos","family":"Oliveira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Advanced Textiles Research Group, Nottingham School of Art and Design, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG7 4HF, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3533-0398","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tilak","family":"Dias","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Advanced Textiles Research Group, Nottingham School of Art and Design, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG7 4HF, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8020-430X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Theo","family":"Hughes-Riley","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Advanced Textiles Research Group, Nottingham School of Art and Design, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG7 4HF, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Peiris, T., Werft, L., Rotzler, S., Shahidi, A.M., Marasinghe, K., Oliveira, C., Dias, T., and Hughes-Riley, T. 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