ConductLayerSeven layers.
Fourteen chemistry
stages.
One fabric.
Copper bonded to polyester at the atomic level. Defense-grade EMI shielding, heated garment layers, and biocompatible conductive wound dressings — built to your exact specification.
Pre-Treatment
Surface preparation & organic removal
Every substrate enters a 3-bath alkaline cleaning sequence. Oils, sizing agents, and atmospheric contaminants are stripped to a contact angle below 20°. A substrate that isn't atomically clean at this stage will produce adhesion failures three layers later — this is where tolerances are either established or destroyed.
| Metric | ConductLayer | Industry Avg. | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact angle post-clean | < 20° | 25–40° | ° |
| Residual organic contamination | < 0.5 | 1.5–3.0 | mg/m² |
| Surface roughness (Ra) | 180–220 | 300–500 | nm |
| Process repeatability (σ) | < 2.1 | 5–8 | % |
Activation
Palladium-tin catalyst seeding
Palladium-tin colloidal catalyst is adsorbed onto the cleaned fiber surface. The Pd²⁺ ions form the catalytic seed layer that will initiate electroless copper reduction in Stage 3. Seed density directly determines copper nucleation uniformity — at 1.8×10¹⁴ atoms/cm², we achieve a continuous film rather than isolated islands.
| Metric | ConductLayer | Industry Avg. | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pd seed density | 1.8×10¹⁴ | 0.9×10¹⁴ | atoms/cm² |
| Activation uniformity | < 3.2 | 8–15 | % CV |
| Accelerator bath life | 420 | 200–280 | cycles |
Electroless Deposition
Autocatalytic copper reduction
In an alkaline formaldehyde-reducing bath, copper ions are reduced onto the palladium seed layer without external current. The reaction is autocatalytic — once started, the copper surface itself catalyzes further deposition. Controlling pH to ±0.2 units at 42°C is the single most critical variable in this stage; drift produces void formation and resistivity spikes.
Outside this window: below 12.0 → bath decomposition; above 12.8 → co-deposition of Cu₂O inclusions raising resistivity 18–40%.
| Metric | ConductLayer | Industry Avg. | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deposition rate | 2.4 | 1.2–1.8 | µm/hr |
| Copper purity | 99.4 | 96–98 | % Cu |
| Void density | < 0.3 | 2–8 | voids/cm² |
| Thickness uniformity | 2.8 | 8–14 | % CV |
Electroplating
Nickel overplate for durability & corrosion resistance
The electroless copper layer (0.3–0.8 µm) is overplated with electrodeposited nickel to 1–3 µm. Nickel provides corrosion barrier, hardness (520 HV vs. copper's 80 HV), and maintains shielding effectiveness through wash cycles. Current density at 2.4 A/dm² produces a fine-grained deposit; exceeding 3.5 A/dm² causes burning at fiber crossover points.
| Metric | ConductLayer | Industry Avg. | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surface resistance | 0.042 | 0.12–0.25 | Ω/sq |
| Shielding effectiveness (1 GHz) | 72 | 45–58 | dB |
| Nickel layer hardness | 520 | 380–440 | HV |
| Tensile strength retention | 97 | 82–90 | % |
Quality Assurance
100% lot testing — no sampling protocols
Every production lot undergoes full four-point probe resistance mapping (25 measurement points per 1m² panel), ASTM D3359 adhesion tape test, and shielding effectiveness measurement per IEEE 299-2006. Medical-grade lots additionally undergo ISO 10993-5 cytotoxicity evaluation. We publish raw test data with every shipment.
| Metric | ConductLayer | Industry Avg. | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| MIL-STD-461 pass rate | 99.2 | 87–92 | % |
| ISO 10993-5 cytotoxicity | Grade 0 | Grade 1–2 | grade |
| Wash durability (cycles) | > 100 | 30–60 | cycles |
| Lot-to-lot resistance variance | < 4 | 12–22 | % |
Finishing
Protective topcoat application & cure
A 2–4 µm fluoropolymer or polyurethane topcoat is applied by pad-mangle and cured at 120°C. The topcoat maintains surface resistance below 0.05 Ω/sq while providing 500+ hour salt spray resistance (ASTM B117). Topcoat chemistry is selected based on end-use: PTFE-based for medical, PU for defense, silicone-hybrid for high-flex wearable applications.
| Metric | ConductLayer | Industry Avg. | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salt spray resistance | 500+ | 200–350 | hours |
| Topcoat adhesion (ASTM D3359) | 5B | 3B–4B | grade |
| Post-finish sheet resistance | 0.048 | 0.15–0.30 | Ω/sq |
Compare Against Your Current Supplier
Enter your current specification on the left. Our guaranteed performance range auto-populates on the right. If the numbers don't beat your current supplier, we'll tell you directly.
Download Full Process Spec Sheet
47 pages. Every bath formulation, operating window, control parameter, and test method. The same document we hand to defense procurement officers and FDA submission teams.