Packing yarn made of graphite foil and plastic foil and method of manufacturing a packing yarn

Abstract

A packing yarn and a method of manufacturing a packing yarn utilize at least two bands that are at most 5 mm wide and are joined together by a yarn manufacturing method. The bands are formed of a laminate having at least one layer of flexible graphite foil and at least one layer of a plastic foil with a tensile strength of at least 25 MPa and an elastic modulus of at least 0.4 GPa. The layers of graphite foil and plastic foil are joined by adhesive bonding, by a non-adhesive-like coupling agent or by welding. The bands are produced from the laminates by cutting, which is preferably effected continuously. The advantages thereof are that strips or bands of flexible graphite which have a tensile strength totally inadequate for the manufacture of packing yarns are altered in terms of their mechanical properties in such a way that they may be processed by known methods in an efficient manner into packing yarns, solely through reinforcement with a plastic foil and without using further reinforcing agents such as, for example, yarns, fibers or wires.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.