Sol/gel Pretreatment of Various Fabrics for Electroless Plating

Abstract

3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane was hydrolyzed in water or water and ethanol mixture for several hours to produce its trihydroxysilane (silanol) derivative. This silanol derivative was then fixed on the surfaces of cotton, vinylon, and oxygen-plasma-pretreated PP and PET fabrics by pad-cure method. The fixation of hydrolyzed APS on the fabrics was confirmed by XPS analysis. APS-fixed fabrics were easily metalized by usual electroless cupper plating. The amount of plated cupper and the electric resistivity of the Cu-plated fabrics were measured. The electric resistivity in the cases of the Cu-plated PP and PET fabrics was kept even after washing.