The conductive fiber for anti-static clothing should be good
The reason why anti-static clothing can have the function of electrostatic protection is mainly because it uses special fabrics with embedded conductive fibers. We call this kind of fabric anti-static fabric, commonly known as conductive silk.
Conductive fiber is the key raw material in anti-static fabric. Its performance determines the anti-static performance of the fabric on the one hand, and is also related to the dust generation of the fabric on the other hand. The development of conductive fiber has gone through three stages so far:
The first stage is the metal fiber stage. Metal fiber has good conductivity, heat resistance and chemical corrosion resistance. But for textiles, metal fiber has low cohesion, poor textile performance, poor coloring of finished products, and poor feel. Therefore, it is only suitable for weaving into T/C fabrics and used as work clothes in flammable and explosive industries such as oil fields and chemical plants.
The second stage is surface carburized organic conductive fiber, and its representative product is BASF's Resistat. Conductive carbon powder is added to the surface of the formed nylon by surface carburization. Its characteristic is that the surface resistance is relatively low. Single conductive carbon powder is easily affected by friction and washing and falls off from the nylon surface, thereby gradually reducing the conductivity of the fabric. At the same time, the conductive carbon powder that falls off is not only dust in the clean room, but also damages electronic products.
The third stage is the composite spinning type organic conductive fiber (the second generation of organic conductive fiber), and its representative product is Belltron of Japan's Kanebo Company, especially the 9R and BR series newly developed by Kanebo Company. Composite spinning type organic conductive fiber is a two-component conductive fiber formed by fully mixing conductive carbon powder with molten matrix material and compounding it with matrix material through special spinneret holes. Its product characteristics are that carbon particles will not fall off due to friction and washing, and it has good washability, bending resistance, wear resistance and other properties.
At present, most of the anti-static fabrics produced in China use BASF's Resistat, but in clean environments above Class 10000, carburized fibers are not applicable, and only composite spinning conductive fibers can be used. For example, for composite spinning conductive fibers, comparing their organizational structures, the conductive fibers (such as Kanebo Belltron 9R1 and BR1) that are completely coated on the outer layer of the fiber after the carbon and matrix materials are melted and mixed have the largest conductive surface area and the best conductive performance, and should also be the first choice for anti-static fabrics. In addition, the number of holes (D number) of the conductive fiber and the processing conditions of the conductive fiber also have a great influence on the performance of the conductive fiber. For conductive fibers of the same structure, the more holes there are, the larger the conductive surface area is, and the stronger the conductive performance is. The same conductive fiber has different effects when it is compounded (parallelized) on different equipment. Under a high-power magnifying glass, we can see that the conductive fibers in some anti-static ultra-clean fabrics float on the cloth surface, which is caused by uneven tension control when the conductive fibers are compounded. The conductive fibers floating on the surface are easily broken and then fall off from the fabric, which not only affects the conductivity but also destroys the cleanliness. Therefore, it is necessary to choose conductive fibers that are original and made by the original manufacturer.