Conductive fiber is the key raw material in anti-static fabric. Its performance is good or bad. On the one hand, it determines the anti-static properties of the fabric, on the other hand, it is also related to the amount of dust generated by the fabric. The development of conductive fibers has gone through three stages so far:
The first stage is the metal fiber stage. Metal fiber has good electrical conductivity, heat resistance and chemical resistance. However, for textiles, the metal fiber has small cohesion, poor textile performance, poor colorability and poor hand feeling. Therefore, it is only suitable for woven into T/C fabrics, and is used for work in flammable and explosive industries such as oil fields and chemical plants.
The second stage is a surface carburized organic conductive fiber, and its representative product is BASF Resistat. The conductive carbon powder is added to the surface of the formed nylon by surface carburization, which is characterized by relatively low surface resistance, and the single conductive carbon powder is easily detached from the surface of the nylon by the influence of friction and washing, thereby making the fabric conductive. The performance is gradually reduced. At the same time, the conductive carbon powder that has fallen off is both dust in the clean room and damages the electronic product.
The third stage is a composite spinning type organic conductive fiber (second-generation organic conductive fiber), and its representative product is Belltron of Japan Bell Textile Co., Ltd., especially the newly developed 9R and BR series of the company. The composite spun type organic conductive fiber is obtained by thoroughly mixing the conductive carbon powder with the molten matrix material, and then forming a two-component conductive fiber by forming a fiber into a fiber through a special spinning hole and a matrix material. Its product characteristics are that it does not cause carbon particles to fall off due to friction and washing, and has good properties such as washing resistance, bending resistance and wear resistance.
At present, most of the domestic anti-static fabrics are selected by BASF Resistat, but in the clean environment of Class 10000 or above, carburized fibers are not suitable, and only composite spinning-type conductive fibers can be used. If it is also a composite spun type conductive fiber, the microstructure is compared, and the carbon and the matrix material are melt-mixed and completely coated on the outer layer of the fiber (such as Kanebo Belltron 9R1, BR1) conductive fiber because of its maximum conductive surface area. It has the best electrical conductivity and should be the first choice for anti-static fabrics. In addition, the number of holes (D number) of the conductive fibers and the state of the wire of the conductive fibers also have a great influence on the performance of the conductive fibers. Conductive fibers of the same structure, the more the number of holes, the larger the conductive surface area, and the stronger the conductivity. The same conductive fiber, composited on different equipment (and wire), the effect is not the same. Under the high magnification magnifying glass, we can see that some conductive silk in the anti-static ultra-clean fabric floats on the cloth surface, which is caused by uneven tension control during the composite wire. The conductive wire floating on the surface is easily broken off and then peeled off from the fabric, which affects both the electrical conductivity and the cleanliness. Therefore, the original conductive fiber should be selected as much as possible.