An electrically conducting yarn is a

yarn Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufac ...

that conducts

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describ ...

. Conducting yarns are used to manufacture

carpet A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester hav ...

s and other items that dissipate

static electricity Static electricity is an imbalance of electric charges within or on the surface of a material or between materials. The charge remains until it is able to move away by means of an electric current or electrical discharge. Static electricity is n ...

, Electrically conductive yarn
a patent description such as work clothes in highly flammable environments, e.g., in the

petrochemistry Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewabl ...

industry. There are several methods known to manufacture electrically conductive textiles. The simplest way is to incorporate metal wires or wire meshes into fabrics. Another approach is to use metalized yarns. In staple yarns, it is possible to spin short strands of regular yarns with metal yarns. Electrically conducting yarns may be made of a central metal strand with regular yarn woven around it. It is however also possible to coat a base polymer (such as

Polyamide 6 Nylon 6 or polycaprolactam is a polymer, in particular semicrystalline polyamide. Unlike most other nylons, nylon 6 is not a condensation polymer, but instead is formed by ring-opening polymerization; this makes it a special case in the comp ...

or Polyester) with metal like silver. Yarns of that sort are for example "Shielde

or "SwicoSilve

whereas it is only possible with the latter to coat non-Polyamides as well. Furthermore, it is possible to coat filament yarns with other metals than silver with the underlying coating technology of SwicoSilver yarns
Gold coated polyester yarns
are for example no impossibility anymore. An altogether different approach involves yarns based on conductive polymers, such as polyaniline. Electrically conductive yarns can also be produced from

carbon nanotubes A scanning tunneling microscopy image of a single-walled carbon nanotube Rotating single-walled zigzag carbon nanotube A carbon nanotube (CNT) is a tube made of carbon with diameters typically measured in nanometers. ''Single-wall carbon nan ...

(CNT). Individual CNT-based fibers are spun ( wet spinning) into a fiber directly from a solution. The solution either contains pre-made dissolved CNTs or the combination of chemicals required to synthesis CNTs. Tens to hundreds of individual fibers can be woven into a yarn. CNT-based yarns find applications in energy and electrochemical water treatment and can replace copper windings, e.g. in motors, which would improve the efficiency and consequently reduce the use of energy.

References

Yarn Occupational safety and health Electrical safety {{textile-stub