Textile metallisation

Textile metallization involves the deposition of metallic particles on textile surfaces thus creating metallic-coated fabrics. At present, four types of metallized processing technologies are applied to textiles and these include vacuum deposition, ion plating, electroplating and electroless plating. In vacuum deposition, also known as vacuum metallization, material from a thermal vaporization source reaches the substrate without collision with gas molecules in the space between the source and substrate. With ion coating, metal coating is produced by the adhesion of evaporated metal particles onto substrate surface. In electroplating, electrically conductive textile materials are coated a layer of metal particles with the use of electrical current. Finally in electroless plating, electric fields are absent thus producing uniform plating thickness.