Environmentally Friendly Protective Coating for Electrically Conductive Yarns Using in Smart Textiles

Abstract

Current research focuses on advancements and breakthroughs in the realm of smart textiles, with applications spanning various industries such as medicine and education. For producing flexible smart textiles, electrically conductive yarns (EC) are needed to transmit signals or as part of sensor systems. Mostly, these EC consist of a polymer core with an outer metallized layer. Using EC in contact with skin requires high reliability and safety, and thus, the EC must maintain their functional properties on a long-term scale under a range of different stresses. The electrical properties of EC deteriorate under mechanical stress applied during production or in-use through damage to the yarn’s surface. At present, there are only partially feasible solutions to protect the metal-layer of the yarn surface. Hence, this paper presents a newly developed non-toxic coating (NTC) to protect the EC surface. The NTC consists of an aqueous emulsion with polypropylene wax and oxidized wax. To determine the long-term stability of the coating, the produced yarns undergo comprehensive evaluation using a range of analytical techniques. The aim is to identify the optimal coating by exploring different equipment and parameters. Additionally, it is various test methods to gauge the durability of the newly developed NTC used and ensure its reliability over time. To characterize the yarn properties before and after the coating, light microscopy (LM), washing processes, mechanical resistance tests and resistivity measurement are conducted.