JP2012233270A - Composite yarn and method for producing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a composite yarn which has a conductive pattern capable of mounting an electronic component formed thereon, and also has such a stretch resistance as to be woven or knitted into a fabric, and to provide a method for producing the same.SOLUTION: The composite yarn comprises a yarn body 1 formed of a resin material having insulation properties, and a pair of conductive patterns 2 which is formed on a surface of the yarn body 1 that has been subjected to easy-adhesion treatment, and comprises a metal-plated layer having a resistance of 30 Ω/cm or less. The electronic component 3 is mounted between the pairs of conductive patterns 2. In addition, the composite yarn has such a stretch resistance as to have an elongation of 5% or more and a residual distortion of 1% or less after 3% extension, and as to allow the conductive patterns 2 to maintain a resistance of 30 Ω/cm or less.

Description

  The present invention relates to a composite yarn having a conductive pattern on which an electronic component can be mounted and a method for manufacturing the same.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, attempts have been made to mount electronic circuit components by imparting electrical properties to yarns and fabrics used in clothing and to integrate them with an information processing apparatus. For example, it has been proposed to perform individual authentication by mounting electronic parts used in wireless communication technology such as RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) on clothing. As an antenna used in such wireless communication technology, a resin film material printed with a conductive paste is used in addition to a metal material such as a metal wire or a metal foil. In recent years, miniaturization of IC tags used for wireless communication technology has progressed and various application developments have been made, and antennas are also required to support such applications.

  For example, Patent Document 1 describes that the antenna of an IC tag is formed of a thin metal wire having a length corresponding to the frequency of an external transceiver that exchanges data with the IC tag and having flexibility corresponding to a flexible material. There are mentioned fine metal wires made of copper, molybdenum, gold, silver, tungsten, aluminum or the like. Patent Document 2 describes a woven fabric in which an IC tag in which a minute IC chip is carried on a linear material and formed into a foil thread shape is woven into a part of the fabric along the warp or weft of the fabric. Patent Document 3 describes an RFID tag provided with a tag antenna made of conductive carbon fiber electrically connected to a tag IC chip. Patent Document 4 describes that, in an IC tag including an IC chip for wireless communication and a transmission / reception antenna, the transmission / reception antenna is composed of a woven fabric, a nonwoven fabric, or a wire mesh using a metal wire. Patent Document 5 describes that a pre-plating treatment is performed on the surface of the polymer fiber material using a supercritical fluid or a subcritical fluid to form a metal film on the surface of the polymer fiber material.

JP 2005-130354 A JP 2005-226165 A JP 2009-289003 A JP 2006-309401 A Japanese Patent No. 4314370

  In the above-mentioned patent document, conductive metal thin wires, foil yarns, carbon fibers, etc. are used as transmission / reception antennas used in wireless communication, but the yarns and fabrics that carry them have flexibility. Therefore, there is a drawback that it is easily broken by deformation such as bending, twisting, and bending. The carbon fiber has excellent characteristics in terms of bending resistance and flexibility, but the carbon fiber has a drawback that the receiving distance is shortened because the resistance value is high.

  In order to cope with the breakage of the conductive pattern of such an antenna, it has been proposed to use a resin film printed with a conductive paste as the conductive pattern. Need to increase. For this reason, the flexibility and flexibility are poor, and when used for a fabric, the attachment location is restricted.

  In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a composite yarn that forms a conductive pattern on which an electronic component can be mounted and has stretch resistance that can be woven or knitted on a fabric, and a method for manufacturing the same.

  The composite yarn according to the present invention includes a yarn body made of an insulating resin material, a conductive pattern formed of a metal plating layer having a resistance of 30 Ω / cm or less and formed on the surface of the yarn body subjected to easy adhesion treatment. The composite yarn has an elongation of 5% or more, a residual strain after elongation of 3%, 1% or less, and a resistance to stretching that maintains the resistance of the conductive pattern at 30 Ω / cm or less. Furthermore, the conductive pattern has a flexibility with a bending resistance variation of 50% or less in different directions of the fiber axis as measured by the cantilever method (JIS L1096). Further, the conductive pattern has an antenna shape formed in a predetermined length range in the yarn length direction. Further, an electronic component that transmits and receives signals is mounted via the conductive pattern. Further, a resin layer is formed in the circumferential direction of the yarn surface so as to cover at least the conductive pattern and the electronic component, and a load operation for bending at an angle of 90 degrees or more with respect to the fiber axis is performed at the location where the resin layer is formed. In this case, the resistance of the conductive pattern is maintained at 30 Ω / cm or less after being repeated 1000 times.

  In the method for producing a composite yarn according to the present invention, a surface of a yarn body made of an insulating resin material is subjected to an easy adhesion treatment, and the viscosity is adjusted to 50 mPa · s to 10000 mPa · s with respect to the surface subjected to the easy adhesion treatment. Ink is applied to a range corresponding to the conductive pattern to perform plating pretreatment, and a conductive pattern made of a metal plating layer having a resistance of 30 Ω / cm or less is formed on the surface subjected to the plating pretreatment by electroless plating. Further, the catalyst ink is applied in a predetermined length range in the yarn length direction. Further, the easy adhesion treatment is any of plasma treatment, corona discharge treatment, sputtering treatment, primer treatment with a primer agent, or alkali weight loss treatment. Furthermore, an electronic component is mounted corresponding to the conductive pattern. Furthermore, a resin layer is formed in the circumferential direction of the yarn surface so as to cover at least the conductive pattern and the electronic component.

  By having the above-described configuration, the present invention can provide a composite yarn having a stretch resistance that can be woven or knitted into a fabric while forming a conductive pattern on which an electronic component can be mounted.

It is a schematic block diagram regarding embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is a schematic flowchart regarding the manufacturing process of a composite yarn. It is a schematic block diagram regarding the bending tester of a composite yarn.

  Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram schematically showing an embodiment according to the present invention. In this example, a pair of conductive patterns 2 made of a metal plating layer is formed on the surface of the yarn body 1 within a predetermined length range in the yarn length direction with a predetermined interval. An electronic component 3 such as an IC chip is positioned between a pair of conductive patterns 2 and mounted with an adhesive or the like, and a pair of terminal portions 4 provided on the electronic component 3 are connected to the conductive pattern 2. doing. The conductive pattern on which the electronic component can be mounted may be set to have a resistance of 30 Ω / cm or less, more preferably 10 Ω / cm or less. When the conductive pattern exceeds 30 Ω / cm, the electrical connection state with the electronic component 3 becomes insufficient, and for example, the accuracy of transmission and reception when performing wireless communication is lowered.

  Further, the conductive pattern 2 is formed in a shape used for a wiring pattern such as a linear shape, a rectangular shape, a circular shape, or an elliptical shape, and is not particularly limited. And you may make it form the electroconductive pattern 2 around the thread | yarn main body 1, and can also form in the circumferential direction wide, or can also form in a spiral shape. By forming the conductive pattern in the circumferential direction, it is also possible to arrange a plurality of electronic components around the yarn body in three dimensions, and change the shape of the conductive pattern and the combination of the electronic components according to the application. Can do.

  In the example shown in FIG. 1, the electronic component 3 is an ultra-small IC chip used for RFID, and the conductive pattern 2 is formed in an antenna shape used for wireless communication. By setting the length of the conductive pattern 2 in the yarn length direction so as to correspond to the frequency of radio waves to be transmitted and received, the electronic component 3 can transmit and receive signals through the conductive pattern 2. In this case, the conductive pattern 2 and the terminal portion 4 are electrically connected. However, in the case of an IC chip having a built-in antenna, it can be transmitted and received due to a change in capacitance, so that the connection is not made. Signals can be transmitted and received even in a state where they are not closely arranged.

  In order for a composite yarn to be woven into a woven fabric or knitted like a normal yarn, the conductive pattern has a physical and electrical influence on the expansion and contraction of the composite yarn that occurs during the weaving or knitting operation. It is necessary to expand and contract without receiving. In normal weaving operation and knitting operation, even if the elongation of the yarn is 5% or more, it will not break, and if the residual strain after 3% elongation is 1% or less, it can be handled in the same way as a normal yarn. Thus, composite yarns can be used for fabrics such as woven fabrics and knitted fabrics as long as they have stretch resistance capable of maintaining the resistance of the conductive pattern at 30 Ω / cm or less even when such yarns are stretched.

  Further, in order for the composite yarn to have the same durability as a normal yarn with respect to the weaving operation or the knitting operation, the composite yarn needs to have isotropic flexibility with respect to the fiber axis. For that purpose, the fiber axis is quasi-concentric, and the flexibility is approximately equal to the fiber axis in all directions, so that it can be handled in the same way as a normal yarn. Specifically, in the case of a quasi-concentric circle, the cross-sectional shape may be 2 or less in terms of flatness, and a quasi-circle is most preferable. When the flatness ratio exceeds 2, the difference in flexibility occurs depending on the bending direction, and the same handling as a normal yarn becomes difficult. As for flexibility, when the bending stiffness is measured by the cantilever method (JIS L1096), the difference in displacement (bending and bending variation) in different directions may be 50% or less. When it exceeds 50%, it becomes difficult to handle the same as a normal yarn. Since the composite yarn has such flexibility, there is no difference in flexibility from normal yarn even in the state of the fabric, and even when used in clothing, it can be used without a sense of incongruity.

  The composite yarn forms a resin layer on the surface of the yarn so as to cover the conductive pattern 2 and the electronic component 3, so that the resin layer functions as a protective layer and increases the strength against peeling of the conductive pattern 2 and the electronic component 3. be able to. In particular, it becomes possible to improve the bending resistance when the composite yarn is curved or deformed when knitting or knitting. The bending resistance of the composite yarn can be evaluated by repeatedly performing a load operation in which the resin layer formation portion of the composite yarn is bent to an angle of 90 degrees to the left and right with respect to the fiber axis. If the resistance of the conductive pattern is maintained at 30 Ω / cm or less after the load operation is repeated 1000 times and the performance of the electronic component is not affected, the conductive pattern breaks or It can be evaluated that it has sufficient bending resistance without being affected by peeling of electronic components. With respect to the bending resistance, it is more preferable that the resistance of the conductive pattern is maintained at 30 Ω / cm or less after a load operation of bending to an angle of 135 degrees is repeated 10,000 times.

  The yarn body used in the present invention is made of an insulating fiber material. Examples of synthetic fiber materials include polyester, nylon, acrylic, polypropylene, para-aramid, meta-aramid, polyarylate, polybenzimidazole, and the like, and natural fiber materials include cotton, wool, hemp, and the like. Examples of the inorganic fiber material include glass. And what mixed these fiber materials may be sufficient.

  Moreover, as the yarn body, monofilament yarn, multifilament yarn or spun yarn is used, but one constituted by filament yarn is preferable. The yarn body is preferably provided with a twist of 10 times / m to 300 times / m so that the fiber material constituting the yarn body does not fall. The thickness of the yarn body is preferably set to 0.05 mm to 1 mm. If the thickness of the thread body is smaller than 0.05 mm, the mounting becomes difficult because it becomes smaller than the size of the electronic component such as an IC chip. If the thread body is thicker than 1 mm, the flexibility of the thread body is reduced and the composite thread is handled. Becomes difficult.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic flow chart relating to the manufacturing process of the composite yarn. First, a yarn body is prepared, and an easy adhesion process is performed on the region of the yarn body where the conductive pattern is to be formed so that the catalyst ink easily adheres (S1). Then, a pre-plating process is performed by applying a catalyst ink to the area subjected to the easy adhesion process (S2), and a conductive pattern is formed by performing an electroless plating process on the pre-plated yarn body (S3). An electronic component is mounted corresponding to the formed conductive pattern (S4), and if necessary, a resin layer is formed on the yarn surface so as to cover the conductive pattern and the electronic component (S5).

  In the manufacturing process described above, a conductive pattern is formed on the yarn body by plating. Since the yarn body is made of an insulating material, a metal plating layer is formed in a region corresponding to the conductive pattern by electroless plating. In order to form a conductive pattern with an accurate size and shape, plating is performed by applying a pre-treatment that applies a catalyst to the metal to a region corresponding to the conductive pattern before electroless plating. The metal plating layer can be formed with a uniform thickness by accurately corresponding to the conductive pattern by the treatment.

  In the pretreatment for plating, when a catalyst is applied to the yarn body, a liquid catalyst ink may be used. When catalyst ink is used, easy adhesion treatment is performed on the surface in order to improve wettability and adhesion. As the easy adhesion treatment, a known treatment such as a plasma treatment, a corona discharge treatment, a sputtering treatment, a ground treatment using a known primer agent such as an epoxy resin or a urethane resin, or an alkali weight loss treatment can be used. The alkali weight loss treatment is effective when a polyester fiber is used for the yarn body.

  In particular, when atmospheric pressure plasma treatment is used, easy adhesion treatment with improved peel strength can be achieved without substantially reducing the strength of the yarn body. In addition, by performing plasma treatment using nitrogen gas as a reactive gas, the surface of the yarn main body is easily adhered, and an amino group is added to the yarn main body so as to be ionically bonded to the catalyst ink. The adhesion between the two becomes improved. Therefore, the adhesion of the plated metal can be improved.

  As the catalyst ink used for the pretreatment of the electroless plating treatment, an ink containing tin silver, tin palladium or palladium as a catalyst can be used. Also, when twisted yarn is used as the yarn body, the catalyst ink penetrates between the fibers and bleeds, and the shape and size of the conductive pattern becomes inaccurate. It may be adjusted to 50 mPa · s to 10000 mPa · s. Examples of the viscosity modifier added to the catalyst ink include polyvinyl chloride. For example, in the case of tin silver ink, a catalyst ink in which bleeding is suppressed can be prepared by adding a polyurethane resin material.

  As a method of attaching the catalyst ink to the surface of the yarn body subjected to the easy adhesion treatment, it is necessary to attach the catalyst ink accurately and uniformly to the region corresponding to the conductive pattern. A known method such as a method of attaching, a method of applying and applying a catalyst ink using a dispenser, gravure printing, roll coater, or the like can be used. When the viscosity of the catalyst ink is high, an adhesion method in which application is performed using a dispenser is preferable to an ink jet recording apparatus.

  When tin silver ink is used as the catalyst ink to be adhered to the yarn body, the catalyst may be fixed on the surface of the yarn body by drying at 50 ° C. to 120 ° C. In the case of tin palladium ink, electroless plating can be performed as it is without drying.

  The metal plating layer formed by the electroless plating process may be any metal that can be deposited by a known electroless plating process such as copper, copper / nickel, nickel, gold, palladium, silver, and the like. It can be formed singly or in combination, and is not particularly limited. By depositing the catalyst ink accurately and uniformly on the region corresponding to the conductive pattern, a metal plating layer corresponding to the conductive pattern accurately can be formed by the electroless plating process.

  As described above, a composite yarn can be manufactured by performing easy adhesion treatment, pre-plating treatment and electroless plating treatment on the yarn body, but such treatment is performed in a state where the yarn body is stretched. . By treating the yarn body with a tension of 1N to 10N applied in the yarn length direction, a composite yarn having durability against deformation such as expansion and contraction and bending can be obtained.

  An electronic component can be mounted on the composite yarn on which the conductive pattern is formed by a known method such as an adhesive. Then, in order to protect the formed conductive pattern and the mounted electronic component, a resin layer may be formed around the composite yarn so as to cover the conductive pattern and the electronic component. In this case, it is preferable to use a thin resin layer so as not to impair the flex resistance and flexibility of the composite yarn. The coating amount when forming the resin layer varies depending on the type of resin to be coated, but is preferably set in the range of 10% to 200% by weight ratio to the yarn body. The resin material used for the resin layer may be coated with a resin material generally used for the protective layer. For example, known resin materials such as polypropylene and polyester can be used.

  The yarn body is made of polyester multifilament (1100 dtex / 250 (main filament); manufactured by Teijin Ltd.) with 100 twists / m of S twist, and the heat set for twisting is heated at 115 ° C for 30 minutes. A treated yarn was prepared. The thickness of the yarn body was 0.7 mm.

<Easy adhesion treatment>
Next, the prepared yarn body was subjected to an atmospheric pressure plasma treatment. In atmospheric pressure plasma treatment, room air was used to eject plasma. A generator FG5001 manufactured by Nippon Plasma REIT Co., Ltd. is used as an atmospheric pressure plasma device, and the yarn body is positioned at a position 5 mm from the tip of the plasma nozzle using two single nozzles PFW-10, and is orthogonal to the yarn length direction. Plasma was irradiated from the direction. The irradiation air pressure of the normal pressure plasma was set to 20 mmBr, and the plasma treatment was performed while continuously conveying the yarn body with a 5 N tension applied at a conveying speed of 200 m / min.

The peel strength of the surface of the treated yarn body was measured. As a measuring method, an adhesive tape is applied to the yarn body with a load of 1 kg / cm ² , and then the load cell 10N in a Tensilon universal testing machine is used. The gripping interval is set to 50 mm and the T-type peel strength is measured. did. For comparison, the T-type peel strength was measured in the same manner for the yarn body that was not plasma treated. As a result of the measurement, the peel strength of the yarn body subjected to plasma treatment was 1.0 N, while that of the yarn body not subjected to plasma treatment was 0.84 N. Therefore, it can be seen that the easy adhesion treatment is performed by the plasma treatment and the adhesion is improved. Moreover, when nitrogen gas was mixed with air used for plasma treatment at 50 liters per minute and the yarn body was similarly plasma treated, the peel strength was 2.1 N, and it was found that the peel strength was improved by mixing nitrogen gas. .

  In this way, by performing plasma treatment on the yarn body, it is possible to improve adhesion of the surface of the yarn body in the subsequent adhesion of the catalyst ink and electroless plating treatment.

<Plating pretreatment>
A commercially available tin silver ink (solvent type) was prepared as a catalyst ink, and a polyurethane solvent-based resin liquid (trade name: Crisbon 2116) manufactured by Dainippon Ink Co., Ltd. was used as a viscosity modifier. A polyurethane solvent resin solution was added to the tin silver ink to adjust the viscosity to 50 mPa · s to 100 mPa · s.

  Tin silver ink was adhered to the region corresponding to the conductive pattern in a state where 3N tension was applied to the plasma-treated yarn body. The conductive pattern was a dipole antenna shape, and a pair of linear regions each having a length of 25 mm in the yarn length direction was set with an interval of 2 mm.

  For the adhesion of the tin silver ink, a dispenser ML808FXcomCE manufactured by Musashi Engineering Co., Ltd. was used, and the tin silver ink was applied to the surface of the yarn body with the nozzle MIN10 so as to correspond to the conductive pattern. The moving speed of the nozzle was set to 40 mm / second, the air pressure was set to 120 kPa, and the distance between the workpieces was set to 150 μm.

  When the adhesion state of the tin silver ink was visually confirmed, it was uniformly and accurately adhered with a length of 25 mm. The yarn main body to which the tin silver ink was adhered was dried at 50 ° C. for 30 seconds to fix the tin silver as a catalyst on the surface of the yarn main body.

<Electroless plating>
The electroless plating process was performed in a state where a tension of 5 N was applied to the yarn body on which tin silver as a catalyst was fixed. The electroless plating treatment was performed at 25 ° C. for 15 minutes based on the standard recipe of OPC750M manufactured by Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. After plating, the yarn body was washed with water and dried at 50 ° C. for 10 minutes. In the obtained composite yarn, a copper plating layer was uniformly formed in an area where tin silver was fixed, and a conductive pattern of a dipole antenna shape made of copper was formed.

  The resistance value was measured about the formed conductive pattern. For the measurement, a milliohm HiTester 3540 manufactured by HIOKI was used, and the probe terminals (model number 9287-10 CLIP TYPE LEAD) were set at a distance of 1 cm between the terminals. The measurement result was 3.6 to 4.8 Ω / cm, which was a resistance value lower than 30 Ω / cm. For this reason, it was confirmed that even when an electronic component was mounted, it had sufficient conductivity with respect to signal transmission / reception.

<Mounting electronic components>
As shown in FIG. 1, an RFID IC chip manufactured by Hitachi, Ltd. (trade name mu) is used as an electronic component in the space between the antenna-shaped patterns for the composite yarn having a dipole antenna-shaped conductive pattern formed thereon. Chip: The chip size was 60 μm in thickness and 400 μm in length and width. The mounting method is to cut each side of the inlet part where the IC chip is mounted to a length of 2 cm, and position the IC chip so that it is placed in the center of the space of the composite yarn. The space between the two was bonded and fixed with an adhesive (instant adhesive manufactured by Toa Gosei Co., Ltd. (trade name; Bond Alpha—general use)).

<Operation check of IC chip>
The operation of the composite yarn with the IC chip mounted thereon was confirmed as RFID. Using a model R001M manufactured by SEKONIC as a reader for RFID, the maximum distance that can be read was measured and the operation was confirmed. For comparison, the measurement was also performed on the both sides of the inlet portion on which the IC chip was mounted cut to a length of 2 cm. When the composite yarn was measured, the ID information stored in the IC chip could be read repeatedly and accurately up to a reading distance of 100 mm, but it could not be read at all when the inlet portion was cut. Therefore, it was confirmed that the conductive pattern formed on the composite yarn functions as an antenna.

<Coating treatment of resin layer>
In order to protect the conductive pattern and the IC chip with respect to the composite yarn on which the IC chip was mounted, the periphery of the composite yarn was covered with a resin layer. A polyester resin having a high heat resistance temperature was used as the resin material. For the coating treatment, a hot melt coating facility manufactured by Suntool Co., Ltd. was used, and the periphery of the composite yarn was coated with a resin using a 1.1 mm shim. The polyester resin is PES-120L (polyester type) manufactured by Toa Gosei Co., Ltd., coated at a melting temperature of 210 ° C, a gear pump of 0.9 g / min, and a coating speed of 10 m / min. The composite yarn was thinly covered with a uniform resin layer with an average resin amount of 82%.

<Physical property evaluation>
The produced composite yarns were evaluated for strength, stretch resistance, flexibility and flex resistance as follows.

(1) Evaluation of strong elongation Using autograph AGS-1KNG manufactured by Shimadzu Corporation, the high elongation of the composite yarn before mounting the IC chip was measured. The measurement results were a maximum intensity of 40 N and a maximum point strain of 9.7%. In this case, the maximum elongation of the composite yarn is 9.7%. When the conductive pattern of the composite yarn was observed with the naked eye, no breakage was found, and when the resistance value of the conductive pattern was measured after the test using a milliohm high tester 3540 manufactured by HIOKI, it was 30 Ω / cm. When an IC chip for RFID was mounted and the operation was confirmed, transmission and reception were possible, and it was confirmed that it functions sufficiently as an antenna.

  For comparison, when the strength and elongation were measured using a commercially available antenna for IC tag inlet (for muchip), the maximum strength was 12 N and the maximum point distortion was 11%. In this case, since the metal vapor deposition part was formed in the film material to make the antenna, the film part was completely broken and the electric resistance could not be measured. When such a film material is used, since the elongation of the metal vapor deposition portion is small, for example, when it is woven or woven into a fabric, it does not have sufficient strength against the force applied to the yarn and easily breaks. It is thought that it will end. On the other hand, composite yarns can be woven or knitted into a fabric in the same manner as ordinary yarns by taking advantage of the characteristics of the yarn body.

(2) Evaluation of stretch resistance The autograph AGS-1KNG type manufactured by Shimadzu Corporation was used to evaluate the stretch resistance of the composite yarn. A load was applied to a composite yarn having a length of 40 mm at a constant length elongation rate of 4 mm / min, and after a 3% elongation with respect to the entire length, a repeated test was performed except for the load. The composite yarn after the test showed no change in shape with the naked eye, and the residual strain was 0.6% or less. When the resistance value of the conductive pattern was measured after the test using a milliohm high tester 3540 manufactured by HIOKI, the resistance value was 5Ω / cm, and the resistance value was maintained at 30Ω / cm or less.

  For comparison, a similar test was performed using a commercially available IC tag inlet antenna (for muchip). However, when stretched by 2.5% or more, it would be plastically deformed without a load and rounded into a coil shape. Therefore, when it is used for a general fabric having a weaving shrinkage ratio of 2.5% or more, it becomes plastically deformed to form convex protrusions on the surface of the fabric, which is not suitable for a fabric such as a fabric. .

(3) Evaluation of flexibility The flexibility of the composite yarn was evaluated using a testing machine used in the cantilever method (JIS L1096) for measuring the bending resistance. A composite yarn having a length of 70 mm was set on a testing machine, moved by 50 mm, and the variation in the height of the tip of the composite yarn protruding from the testing machine was measured to evaluate the flexibility. The tip of the composite yarn was deformed downward by an average height of 1.3 mm (variation width: 1 mm to 1.5 mm). Even when the same test is performed with the composite yarn rotated 90 degrees about the axis, the composite yarn is deformed downward by an average of 1.1 mm (variation width: 1 mm to 1.5 mm), and the bending resistance is different in different directions. It has a flexibility that changes only about 20% and isotropically deforms with respect to the fiber axis, and can be handled in the same way as a normal yarn when woven or knitted into a fabric.

  For comparison, the same evaluation was performed using a commercially available IC tag inlet antenna (for muchip). However, the film was deformed at a height of 1.5 mm to 2 mm in the plane direction of the film, but the film was placed vertically. In the state where it is set up, the deformation does not occur, the deformation is anisotropic, and it does not have the same flexibility as a normal yarn.

(4) Evaluation of bending resistance A bending testing machine was used as a testing machine for evaluating the bending resistance of the composite yarn. FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram relating to a bending tester. A pair of stainless steel bars (diameter 5 mm) 10 were horizontally arranged, and the stainless steel bars 10 were set to be parallel to each other at intervals of 0.5 mm. A gripping member 11 is disposed above the stainless steel bar 10, and the gripping member 11 is set so as to be rotatable around a rotation center axis O passing through an intermediate line between the stainless steel bars 10. The composite yarn F is set so that the upper end thereof is fixed to the gripping member 11 and the whole is suspended by gravity, and passes between the stainless bars 10 so as to be substantially orthogonal to the axial direction of the stainless bars 10. Then, the position of the composite yarn F is adjusted so that the portion to be evaluated for bending resistance (the portion on which the conductive pattern and the electronic component are disposed) comes into contact with the stainless steel rod 10.

  After setting the composite yarn F, as shown by the arrow, the gripping member 11 is reciprocated to the left and right at a predetermined bending angle θ to repeat the load operation for bending the composite yarn F, and the test is performed. Since the test is performed in a state where no tension is applied to the composite yarn F, it is possible to accurately evaluate the durability against the load operation caused by the bending of the composite yarn.

  The load operation for bending the composite yarn by setting the bending angle to 135 degrees was repeated 10,000 times. After the load operation, the resin layer of the composite yarn was peeled to expose the conductive pattern, and the milliohm high tester manufactured by HIOKI Corp. When the resistance value of the conductive pattern was measured using 3540, it was 5 Ω / cm. The composite yarn maintained the resistance of the conductive pattern at 30 Ω / cm or less even after the load operation, and it was confirmed that the composite yarn had bending resistance that could be handled in the same manner as a normal yarn.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Yarn body 2 ... Conductive pattern 3 ... Electronic component 4 ... Terminal part

Claims (11)

  A composite yarn comprising a yarn body made of an insulating resin material, and a conductive pattern made of a metal plating layer having a resistance of 30 Ω / cm or less and formed on the surface of the yarn body subjected to easy adhesion treatment, A composite yarn having an elongation of 5% or more and having a stretch resistance in which a residual strain after elongation of 3% is 1% or less and the resistance of the conductive pattern is maintained at 30 Ω / cm or less.   2. The composite yarn according to claim 1, wherein the conductive pattern has flexibility with a bending resistance variation of 50% or less in different directions of the fiber axis as measured by a cantilever method (JIS L1096).   The composite yarn according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the conductive pattern has an antenna shape formed in a predetermined length range in the yarn length direction.   The composite yarn according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an electronic component that transmits and receives a signal is mounted via the conductive pattern.   A resin layer is formed in the circumferential direction of the yarn surface so as to cover at least the conductive pattern and the electronic component, and a load operation for bending at an angle of 90 degrees or more with respect to the fiber axis is performed at a location where the resin layer is formed. 5. The composite yarn according to claim 4, wherein the composite yarn has a bending resistance so that the resistance of the conductive pattern is maintained at 30 Ω / cm or less after being repeated.   A fabric comprising the composite yarn according to any one of claims 1 to 5.   The surface of the yarn body made of an insulating resin material is subjected to easy adhesion treatment, and the catalyst ink adjusted to have a viscosity of 50 mPa · s to 10000 mPa · s is applied to the range corresponding to the conductive pattern on the surface subjected to easy adhesion treatment. Then, a pre-plating treatment is carried out, and a composite yarn manufacturing method is formed in which a conductive pattern comprising a metal plating layer having a resistance of 30 Ω / cm or less is formed by electroless plating treatment on the pre-plating surface.   The manufacturing method according to claim 7, wherein the catalyst ink is applied in a predetermined length range in the yarn length direction.   The manufacturing method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the easy adhesion treatment is any one of a plasma treatment, a corona discharge treatment, a sputtering treatment, a primer treatment with a primer agent, or an alkali weight loss treatment.   The manufacturing method according to claim 7, wherein an electronic component is mounted corresponding to the conductive pattern.   The manufacturing method according to claim 10, wherein a resin layer is formed in a circumferential direction of a yarn surface so as to cover at least the conductive pattern and the electronic component.

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