Fabrication and characterization of magnetic cotton yarns for textile applications

Cotton yarns covered with hard (barium hexaferrite – BaFe), and soft (Black Toner 6745 CP-313) magnetic particles are investigated for their application in the field of functional textile. Our results reveal a rather consistent dependence of the magnetic yarn properties on the fabrication parameters (nature of the magnetic powder, composition of the coating solution, etc.). The magnetic properties (residual magnetism and coercive field intensity) of the yarns are increasing with the magnetic powder content in the coating solution. However, this is at some point leading to the degradation of some yarn properties, e.g. elasticity. Bending tests revealed that several factors improve the bending behavior of the yarns and reduce cracks. For example, a higher number of cracks were exhibited by the hard magnetic yarns compared to the soft ones. The presence of polyurethane in the coating solution leads to no cracks on the surface of hard magnetic yarns or a small number in case of soft magnetic yarns. The tensile properties of the magnetic yarns are increasing with increasing magnetic powder content. Over a certain mass percentage (45% for BaFe and 30% for CP-313), the magnetic yarns tensile strength and elongation become lower than those of the support yarn.