Fabrication and characterization of copper coated polyamide-6 fibers with magnetron sputtering technology.

Copper (Cu) is deposited as a film onto polyamide-6 (PA-6) fibers with a magnetron sputtering technology by using a self-assembly machine with a winding unit. The Cu coated PA-6 fibers are characterized by using surface profiler, X-ray diffractometer and scanning electron microscope. The electrical conductivity, Raman spectra, tensile strain and tensile stress of Cu coated PA-6 fibers are also systematically investigated. The results show that the mean value of the electrical conductivity of Cu-coated PA-6 fibers increases with decrease of winding speeds and reaches 7.03 × 10 Ω m at 4.7 cm/min. The Cu coated PA-6 fibers are used as electric wires to light the LEDs. The Raman characteristic peak of PA-6 fiber in the spectra is influenced after coating. With the drop of winding speed, the tensile strain and tensile stress of coated PA-6 fibers both decrease after Cu deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]