Patent ID: 6045680
Filing Date: 2000-04-04
Classification: C23C,D06M

Abstract:
The process for completely and substantially uniformly coating surfaces of a multiplicity of monofilament polymeric fibers of polyaramid, polyamide, or polyester in a yarn with an electrically conductive electroless nickel coating and wherein said surfaces are modified by contacting said surfaces with an aqueous activating solution consisting essentially of an acid comprising sulfuric acid or a derivative of sulfuric acid having a concentration between 75 and 85 percent by weight and a surfactant for a time period and temperature sufficient to render said surfaces water-wettable but less than that wherein substantial mechanical degradation of said monofilament occurs prior to coating with said nickel which comprises feeding said yarn from at least one feed reel, through an electroless nickel bath to at least one take-up reel wherein tension in said yarn within said bath is sufficiently low to permit the bath to penetrate into the yarn to contact all surfaces of the monofilament fibers in the yarn for said complete and said substantially uniform coating.