Effect of length of chopped pristine and intercalated graphite fibers on the resistivity of fiber networks

Samples of Amoco P-100 fibers were chopped to lengths of 3.14, 2.53, 1.90, 1.27, 0.66 mm, or milled for 2 hours. The two-point resistivity of compacts of these fibers were measured as a function of pressure from 34 kPa to 143 MPa. Samples of each fiber length were intercalated with bromine at room temperature and similarly measured. The low pressure resistivity of the compacts decreased with increasing fiber length. Intercalation lowered the resistivity of each of the chopped length compacts, but raised the resistivity of the milled fiber compacts. Bulk resistivity of all samples decreased with increasing pressure at similar rates. Even though fiber volumes were as low as 5 percent, all measurements exhibited measurable resistivity. A greater change with pressure in the resistance was observed for shorter fibers than for longer, probably an indication of tighter fiber packing. Intercalation appeared to have no effect on the fiber to fiber contact resistance.