SWICOFIL - Yarn and fiber expert.

SWICOGOLD YARN

An elegant yarn that combines conducitvity and the textile touch without losing workability, adhesion or stability - this is SwicoGold, 24K Gold coated filament yarns.
It is now possible to coat continuous filament yarn with 100% 24K Gold (meaning without any adhesive layer underneath) by a new process called plasma metal coating.

Invented by EMPA Switzerland, this wordwide unique and patented technology revolutionizes the Gold yarn industry as it combines the characteristics of Gold (such as conductivity) with those of a filament yarn (such as touch, workability, ...) while providing an excellent adhesion of the Gold.
SwicoGold - An elegant yarn that combines conducitvity and the textile touch without losing workability, adhesion or stability



Why Plasma Gold Coated Yarns?

SwicoGold yarns are a part of the Plasma Metal Coated Yarns programme. Coating a filament yarn by the plasma coating method gives much better wear, a perfect level coating and little to no conductivity fluctuation compared to usual techniques of coating yarn with metal. SwicoGold yarns are easy to process in the textile chain and products on the fashion side have a wonderful noble appearance. Furthermore, they are easy to adapt to customer's requirements such as count, conducivity or base yarn material.


SwicoGold yarns are longlasting as SwicoGold yarns are the only one in the world where 24K Gold is brought straight onto the base yarn. There is no silver or copper layer underneath the Gold
This is a huge advantage for demanding applications. The final product is easy care. The big problem that all other Gold coated yarns have - the underlying silver or copper oxizidizing through the gold coating, turning the gold black therefore - is inexistent for SwicoGold yarns. They can be washed without hesitation and without having to fear the gold to turn black.
  
Advantages
Why choose SwicoGold
Applications
The sky is the limit 
Programme
Standards right from the stock
References
Implementations of SwicoGold
Possibilties
Tailored upon your requirements
Inquiry
What to do when interested


... or check out the product website for SwicoGold.

ADVANTAGES

Compared to any other metalized yarn, SwicoGold yarns convince with the following characteristics:
  • excellent washing behaviour
    After 60 household washing cycles, there is 90-95% of metal still on the SwicoGold yarns according to tests conducted by EMPA Switzerland.
 
  • very regular coating along the yarn
    Ideal for automation applications, where uniform conducitvity is important to keep performance at a steady level and reaction margins extremely narrow.
     
  • coated with Gold only
    There is no layer of any other metal or adhesive substance underneath like it is with other metalization processes - SwicoGold yarns will therefore not start to oxizie as there is no silver / copper involved.
     
  • inertness
    SwicoGold yarn, composed of only the base material of your choice and gold, is technically inert which makes it very suitable for medical applications where characteristics such as corrision resistance and high conductivity are crucial for new fields of technologies.
     
  • tailored upon your requirements
    Additional to the standard programme, SwicoGold yarns can also be made according to properties you need. This includes conducitivity values, base yarn material counts or twist. We do everything so that the yarns are easy to process for you.
     
  • very fashionable
    Products on the fashion side with SwicoGold yarns have a wonderful noble appearence due to the yarn's elegance and fineness.


Furthermore, thanks to the coating with real 24K Gold, SwicoGold yarns also comprise the characteristics of gold, which include inertness
Comparison: classically Gold coated yarn (above); plasma Gold coated yarn (below)

Comparison

upper: classic process; yarn with Gold foil wrapped around

lower: new process; SwicoGold, plasma Gold coated yarn



 

STANDARD PROGRAMME

Despite the yarn being easily adjusted to customers special needs, there are also the following standards for SwicoGold yarns in Polyester PET FDY available in stock:
Product line: plasma Gold coated yarns

twist /

 count (dtex)

0 tpm

60 tpm

200 tpm

embroidery
x 2 high twist

74 f 24 HT - -

78 f 24

-

*

125 f 36

-

150 f 48

-

-

168 f 24

-

-

-

280 f 48 HT - -

*: yarn is 80 tpm instead of 60 tpm

■: available in stock
○: production on order only
HT: yarn is high tenacity instead of flat FDY

Base yarn of all SwicoGold stocks is PET FDY. Other base materials - such as Nylon, PP, etc. - exclusively upon order.
SwicoGold FDY yarns are available from stock on bobbins of 100m or 500m.
SwicoGold embroidery yarns are available on king spools of 1000m.

 

PLASMA GOLD COATED POLYESTER DTY YARN

Plasma 24K Gold coated Polyester FDY yarn in various counts available from stock service

PLASMA GOLD COATED POLYESTER EMBROIDERY YARN

Plasma 24K Gold coated Polyester embroidery yarn available from stock service

POSSIBILITIES

Additional to the stock service, SwicoGold yarn can also be tailored upon your requirements.
Not only concerning the count (from a fine dtex 8 mono- or multifilament up to a coarse dtex 550 high tenacity multifilament) but also in reference to what materials can be coated.


So far, the following materials have been used for this process:
  • Polyester (PET)
  • Polyamide 6.6
  • Polyamide 6
  • UHMWPE
  • Viscose (CV)
  • Silk
  • Meta-/ Paraaramide
  • Vectran


Also, friction textured HE or Set yarn can be coated which provides a "geometric" elasticity to the product.
Everything is possible as long as the yarn is a continuous filament yarn with a count of between dtex 8 - dtex 550.
 
Base material: continuous filament yarn (mono and multifilament)
Count range: dtex 8 - dtex 550
Twist: no restriction
Lowest possible conductivity: abt. 10 ohm/cm

APPLICATIONS

For what kind of applications is SwicoGold suitable?
  • fabrics for decoration
  • high end fashion
  • luxury menswear in pin stripes
  • sewing / embroidery threads
  • fabrics for clerical applications
  • home furnishing
  • carpets
  • medical end uses
  • engineering as ESD applications
  • jewellery / watches
  • computing
  • electronic components
  • defense application
  • body sensor systems
  • decoration elements in folklore dresses

REFERENCES

Where can you find SwicoGold yarn so far implemented?
The field of application for SwicoGold yarn is broad. Correspondingly, SwicoGold yarn can be found in most diverse products. A few impressions on where SwicoGold yarn so far have been incorporated:
Aussiebum 24K real Gold underwear made by plasma Gold coated SwicoGold yarn
Aussiebum - mens underwear
Jakob Schäpfer - SwicoGold in weft on a black warp fabric
Jakob Schläpfer - SwicoGold in weft on a black silk warp fabric
Soie et toi shawl with real 24K Gold yarn from Heimgartner
Heimgartner / Soie Et Toi - Gold shawl
Rococo Dessous bra made with real 24K SwicoGold yarn
Rococo Dessous 
Bischoff Textile - embroidered decorations on watch
Bischoff Textil - embroidered decorations on watch
Sewing thread with Gold incorporated by Coats
Coats - sewing thread

INQUIRY

What to do when you are interested in SwicoGold yarns.
Please use the below plasma coated yarn checklist (.docx file - attention, not the same checklist as for other Swicofil products) and send it completely filled in to us by email.

 

Quicklink to the standard programme
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