Overview
ISO 17971:2025 - Textiles - Smart textiles - Test method for determining the screen-touch properties of fabrics - defines a standardized laboratory procedure to evaluate how fabrics interact with capacitive touchscreens. The standard covers test equipment, specimen preparation, conditioning, and three principal test modes (single‑point, multi‑point and sliding touch) plus a blank/control procedure. It provides objective metrics to quantify the ability of textiles (for example, glove fingers or wearable interfaces) to operate touchscreens reliably.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Scope: Applicable to all types of fabrics intended to serve as an interface for capacitive touchscreens.
- Apparatus: Test system includes a mobile arm, a reference capacitive screen, a cylindrical test bar and force sensor; position resolution of equipment is 0.01 mm with Maximum Permissible Error 0.2 mm.
- Test bar: Specified cylindrical test bar diameter of (6.0 ± 0.01) mm; conductive material meeting IEC requirements is used.
- Force and sensors: Test force range from 0.1 N to 10.0 N; force sensor precision not more than 1%.
- Environmental conditioning: Conditioning and testing per ISO 139 - temperature (20.0 ± 2.0) °C and relative humidity (65.0 ± 4.0) %; reference screen conditioned ≥ 2 h, specimens conditioned 4 h.
- Specimens: At least five specimens from different locations; minimum specimen size 2 cm × 2 cm; lay flat without creases.
- Test procedures and outputs:
- Blank/control to eliminate equipment effects.
- Single‑point test: assesses positional accuracy, precision (deviation) and response ratio.
- Multi‑point test: measures minimum adjacent-touch distance where two touchpoints are reported separately (horizontal, vertical, 45°).
- Slide tests: linearity and continuity of sliding gestures (in‑line and circular slides).
- Reference screen performance: requirements for single‑touch precision, sensitivity and slide linearity to ensure valid measurements.
Practical applications
- Quality control and R&D for smart textiles, conductive fabrics and touchscreen‑enabled gloves.
- Product development for wearable interfaces, fashion tech, medical textiles and industrial gloves that must operate smartphones, tablets, or embedded displays.
- Certification and vendor verification: objective test data to support claims about touchscreen compatibility.
- Consumer electronics and textile test laboratories implementing reproducible methods for integrating textiles with capacitive displays.
Who should use this standard
- Textile manufacturers and fabric developers, smart textile engineers, glove and apparel designers, test houses, product certification bodies, and procurement/specification teams seeking validated touchscreen performance metrics.
Related standards
- ISO 139 - Standard atmospheres for conditioning and testing
- IEC 62908‑12‑10 and IEC 62908‑12‑20 - Touch and interactive displays: measurement methods for touch and multi‑touch performance
Keywords: ISO 17971, smart textiles, screen‑touch properties, touchscreen fabrics, capacitive touchscreen, textile testing, test method.