A study on the characteristics of metalized yarns

The functionalization of textiles with electro-conductive particles and layers is a vivid field of research at the moment. Spinning of carbon nanotube-loaded fibres, printing with conductive inks and the deposition of metals onto textile surfaces are just a few examples. The potential applications of these textile structures range from medicine to art, from rehabilitation to sports. However, their characteristics are often not well understood, which limits their exploitation up to now. Hence, we also followed this path and coated para-aramid and polyester yarns with thin layers of polypyrrole, copper and gold with help of an electroless deposition process. Bearing in mind the current research need, this paper does not broach the issue of the yarn coating, but its characterization. Thus, this paper states the dependency of the conductive layer’s morphology on the solution’s pH as well as its deposition time. The latter is directly correlated to the obtained layer thickness and hence to the yarn’s electro-conductive properties. Furthermore, the electro-conductive properties change on a long term basis, which was investigated by washing tests. Finally, it can be stated that the coatings decrease the yarn’s mechanical properties. It remains for future work to imply the yarns in a smart textile prototype, for instance as electrodes to measure biopotentials.The functionalization of textiles with electro-conductive particles and layers is a vivid field of research at the moment. Spinning of carbon nanotube-loaded fibres, printing with conductive inks and the deposition of metals onto textile surfaces are just a few examples. The potential applications of these textile structures range from medicine to art, from rehabilitation to sports. However, their characteristics are often not well understood, which limits their exploitation up to now. Hence, we also followed this path and coated para-aramid and polyester yarns with thin layers of polypyrrole, copper and gold with help of an electroless deposition process. Bearing in mind the current research need, this paper does not broach the issue of the yarn coating, but its characterization. Thus, this paper states the dependency of the conductive layer’s morphology on the solution’s pH as well as its deposition time. The latter is directly correlated to the obtained layer thickness and hence to the yarn’s electro-conductive properties. Furthermore, the electro-conductive properties change on a long term basis, which was investigated by washing tests. Finally, it can be stated that the coatings decrease the yarn’s mechanical properties. It remains for future work to imply the yarns in a smart textile prototype, for instance as electrodes to measure biopotentials.C