Metallic fiber
[1] Having their origin in textile and clothing applications, gold and silver fibers have been used since ancient times as yarns for fabric decoration.
The most common methods include shaving from a larger stock,[3] casting directly from molten metal, and growing around a seed.
Gold and silver have been used since ancient times as decoration in the clothing and textiles of kings, leaders, nobility and people of status.
[4] During the early 1960s, Brunswick Corp. conducted a research program to develop an economically viable process for forming metallic filaments.
By 1964 Brunswick was producing fine metal fibers as small as 1 μm from 304 type stainless steel.
Depending on the alloy, the metallic fibers provide properties to the yarn which allow the use in more high tech[8][2][clarification needed] applications.
Several thousands of filaments are bundled together in a so-called composite wire, a tube which is drawn through a die to further reduce its diameter.
The covering tube is later dissolved in acid, resulting in individual continuous metal fibers.
Special developments within the last couple of years have allowed this technology to be used for the production of fibers with diameters as small as 200 nm and below.
There are many different variations of color and effect that can be made in metallic fibers, producing a wide range of looks.
This process involves heating the metal until it vaporizes then depositing it at a high pressure onto the polyester film .
Recent developments include filter media using combinations of both metallic and non-metallic fibers.
Several bundles of fibers are glued together with a variety of sizings and an adequate compatible extrusion coating is applied.
After chopping these coated bundles into pellets they can be used as additives in the production of engineered conductive/ shielding plastic pieces by injection molding and extrusion.
In a very limited number of cases, needle punching can be applied to entangle the fibers and obtain needle-punched felt.
The cable can be fine-tuned for a certain application by combining different filament strengths, diameters or the number of twists, or by preforming.
The largest and most integrated metal fiber producer worldwide is the multinational company Bekaert, headquartered in Belgium, but with manufacturing footprint in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
[citation needed] In 2020, Fibrecoat a German start-up from Aachen started producing Aluminium coated Basalt Fibres in Germany, their patented coating technique allows for an exponential increase in production speed, and decrease in process steps, energy consumption and price.[promotion?]
The majority of Lurex fibers have a polyamide film covering the metal strand but polyester and viscose are also used.
The fibers are also treated with a lubricant called P.W., a mineral-based oil, which helps[clarification needed] provide ease of use.
Automotive Metal fiber sintered sheets are used for diesel and gasoline particulate filtration and crankcase ventilation filters.
Heat-resistant textile materials are made from metal fibers for automotive glass bending processes.
Metal fiber heating cables show an extremely high flexibility and durability when compared to copper wire.
Not only antistatic, but also shielding from electromagnetic interference (EMI) can be achieved by metal fiber textiles.
Stainless steel fiber textiles can be heated by applying electrical current and can also be used for cut resistant clothing (gloves).
Power Metal fiber filters can reach very high porosity, at very low pore sizes, which makes them suitable for HEPA and ULPA filtration.
These filters are used in, amongst others, nuclear power plants as a safety measure to prevent eventual release of radio-active steam.
