Tinsel Wire
Conductive Textile Wire
A soft textile fiber core at the centre, so the conductor handles like yarn.
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Industry application
Smart Textiles And Wearables
Conductors that can be sewn, woven and worn, for smart clothing, heated apparel and technical textiles.
Context
What This Industry Asks Of A Conductor
Textile wires are one of the main applications for our conductors, and textiles is one of the fields where we help customers build products their competitors cannot copy easily. The reason tinsel wire fits is structural rather than incidental: there is already a soft textile fiber at the centre of the conductor, so it bends and drapes far closer to yarn than a solid wire of the same conductivity ever will, while the foil on its surface does the electrical work. Add the high-resistance versions used in heating wires and the same construction covers both the signal and the heating side of a garment.
Requirements
The Constraints That Actually Govern
Industry pain points
- A wire stiff enough to carry current cannot be sewn or worn comfortably.
- Conductors abrade and break where a garment creases and stretches.
- Heated apparel needs an accurate resistance value in something that still drapes.
- Washing and wear attack both the conductor surface and its core.
What the conductor has to deliver
- A conductor with textile handling characteristics.
- Fiber cores chosen for abrasion, temperature and chemical exposure.
- High resistance constructions for heating elements.
- Plated surfaces where termination into electronics has to be reliable.
Recommended
Conductors We Supply Into Smart Textiles And Wearables
Heater Wire
Heater Wire
High resistance in a conductor that is still flexible enough to sew, wind or route.
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Tinsel Wire
Bare Copper Tinsel Wire
Highest conductivity per unit of foil in the range, with no plating layer in the current path.
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Precision Copper Foil
Braided Shielding Sleeve
Shielding and mechanical protection without stiffening the cable.
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Delivery
Scenarios And Supply
Typical application scenarios
- Smart clothing and wearables
- Heated apparel and gloves
- Conductive textile panels
- Anti-wave sleeving in technical textiles
What we deliver alongside the conductor
- Sample testing on both conventional and customized products, with no minimum order quantity.
- Two production shifts running without interruption so orders leave on time.
- Technical staff available 24/7 for immediate support and engineering advice.
- A comprehensive loading report supplied with every shipment.
Process
From Your Targets To Repeat Production
1
Requirement
You send the conductor resistance, outer diameter, tensile strength, swing life and soldering method. All five are treated as one problem.
2
Material selection
Foil and base metal chosen from bare copper, oxygen-free copper and the tin-copper, iron-copper, silver-copper, nickel-chromium, nickel-iron and copper-nickel alloys.
3
Core and plating
Fiber core picked for working temperature and abrasion; tin, silver or nickel plating specified at 0.3 um to 2 um.
4
Sampling
We build and test a sample. No minimum order quantity applies to conventional or customized sampling.
5
Verification
Resistance, tensile strength and elongation are measured on our own equipment, with salt spray where corrosion matters.
6
Production and shipment
Two shifts keep delivery on schedule, and a comprehensive loading report goes out with every shipment.
Reference
Related Engineering Guides
material guide
Choosing The Fiber Core: Aramid, Liquid Crystal Polymer And The Alternatives
What each fiber core actually gives a tinsel wire, and which service conditions should point you at which one.
Read the guide
technical guide
What Tinsel Wire Is, And Why It Outlasts Solid Wire Where Cables Bend
The construction, the materials and the reason a foil-over-fiber conductor beats a solid wire of the same size on flex life.
Read the guide
Questions
Smart Textiles And Wearables: Frequently Asked Questions
Which fiber core survives washing and abrasion best?
Aramid gives good abrasion resistance, high strength and a melting point above 500 degrees Celsius. Liquid crystal polymer adds wear, bending and fatigue resistance with excellent chemical resistance and low moisture absorption.
Can one conductor type cover both signal and heating in a garment?
The same tinsel wire construction covers both. High resistance requirements are one of its characteristics, which is why it is widely used in heating wires as well as in signal conductors.
Building Cable For Smart Textiles And Wearables?
Send the performance targets your conductor has to meet. We will propose a construction and sample it with no minimum order quantity.