Electrically conductive silicone rubber–steel fibre composites

Abstract

Steel fibre–silicone rubber composites were prepared by two-roll mill method. Various weight fractions of fibres ranging from 20 phr (parts per hundred parts of rubber) to 90 phr, with a diameter of 7–8 μm and length of several metres were used and its influence on the surface resistance, physical properties, short-term and dynamic stress–strain properties of the composites were investigated. Addition of steel fibres renders a sharp decrease in resistance from MΩ to ~3–0.1 kΩ with the concentration from 20 phr to 90 phr, respectively. Addition of 20 phr of steel fibres yields composite with a resistance of 5–10 kΩ, other properties being negligibly altered.