Conductive fabrics

Heat in wet + Heat conducted fabric entering from dry layer... 

The stabilities of polypyrrole-coated conductive fabrics were highly dependent on the doping counterion as well as the polymerization conditions. The rate of degradation showed a diffusion controlled kinetics at high temperatures. The room temperature half-life for the most stable conductive fabric was estimated to be about five years [129]. 

Development of electrically conducting polymers that can be processed as thermoplastics and possess the advantageous mechanical behavior and corrosion stability of plastics would open up entirely new fields of applications. Some of the many applications in which electrically conducting polymers would find a large market are cables and conducting electricity, wall papers that allow electrical heating, materials for antistatic equipment, and conducting fabrics. 

Conductive fabrics are used not only in the textile industry but also as carbon fibre heating (CFP) moulds in the construction of fibre-reinforced... 

Khan A, Hussain M, Nur O, Willander M, Broitman E. Analysis of direct and converse piezoelectric responses from zinc oxide nanowires grown on a conductive fabric. Phys Status SolidiA 2015 212(3) 579-84. 

While these studies have shown that polyaniline- and polypyrrole-coated fabrics can behave as chemi-resistive sensors, it is also expected that similar chemi-resistive behavior will be achieved using ICP monofilaments and yams, which are woven or stitched into an existing fabric. Ultimately, vapor detection fabric will need to comprise of an array of sensors with the patterned response fed into a microprocessor in order to identify and determine the concentration of the vapor. The relatively low cost of production and subsequent processing of these electrically conductive fabrics provide the opportunity for designing a textile-based electronic nose, which possess built-in massive redundancy for the sensor array so that device will still function even if there is a localized break (rip, tear hole, etc.) in the fabric network. Specifically, in case some area of the sensor system fads, there is a massive redundancy in the garment such that other areas may stdl be able to acquire the information. This will greatly increase the rehabdity of the system. 

Kim, S.H., J.H. Seong, and K.W. Oh. 2002. Effect of dopant mixture on the conductivity and thermal stability of polyaniline/nomex conductive fabric. J Appl Polymer Sci 83 2245. 

Bhat, N.V., D.T. Seshadri, and S. Radhakrishnan. 2004. Preparation, characterization, and performance of conductive fabrics Cotton + PANi. Textile Res J 74 155. 

Egami, Y, Suzuki. K Tanaka, T Yasuhara, T Higuchi, E and Inoue, H. (2011) Preparation and characterization of conductive fabrics coated imiformly with polypyrrole nanoparticles. Synth. Met., 161, 219-224. 

Conducting polymer fibers were prepared by melt mixing and chemical coating on fibers. Different conductive materials were used in order to obtain conductive PP-based fibers with specific electrical and mechanical properties. The electrical conductivity and morphological characteristics of these fibers were investigated (Kim et al. 2004). The conductive fibers are intended for use in creating conductive yams, conductive fabrics (which can be used as electromagnetic shields), and multifunctional textile stractures for novel applications. 

Electrical conductivity Fabrication of a buckypaper and capacitance supercapacitor... 

Because of the high conductivity of copper, electroless copper plating is currently used to manufacture conductive fabrics. Electroless copper plating on fabrics has been studied by some researchers [1-6]. Electroless metal plating is a non electrolytic method of deposition from solution [7]. The electroless deposition method uses a catalytic redox reaction between metal ions and dissolved reduction agent[8-12]. This technique advantages, such as low cost, excellent conductivity, shielding effectiveness... 

TexE srl—INNTEX Div. Produce conductive fabrics and we distribute conductive fibers made under our specifications (www.inntex.com)... 

Dielectric constant, loss tangent, and thickness are some of the parameters (NASA Tech Briefs, 2008) to be considered for the nonconductive fabric layer. The circuit design of the conductive fabric layer is secured onto a nonconductive fabric layer using sewing, embroidery, adhesive means, and/or 3D weaving (Courtesy of Bally Ribbon Mills). Multilayer circuits can be built using conductive threads to make electrical connections between layers. 

An applied pressure can either lead to a change in resistance or in capacitance. In 2001, Swallow and Thompson launched the sensory fabric . Their technology is based on two conductive fabric layers with a nonconductive mesh sandwiched in between. 

When a pressure is applied on the top conductive fabric, it will make contact with the bottom conductive fabric through the holes of the mesh and the measured electrical resistance will change. This fabric has been used to make products such as a fabric keyboard or an integrated textile keypad. 

Silver-coated yams are knitted in a sinusoidal manner in the kidney, neck or feet zone of shirts and tights, respectively. The connection between the heating zones and a power controller consists of a conductive fabric that is equipped with snap fasteners. 

Mohna J, et al. Polyaniline coated conducting fabrics. Chemical and electrochemical characterization. Eur Polym J 2011 47 2003-15. 

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