A Mixing Model for Describing Electrical Conductivity of a Woven Structure

Abstract

The main aim of the research was to describe electro-conductive woven structures by specifying the phases’ exponents using the generalised Archie’s law. Special woven structures were designed to transfer Archie’s model to the textile object. The woven structure was treated as a complex multiphase mixture. The structure was composed of two conducting phases (strips and strip contacts) and one non-conducting phase (pore space). It was found that the designed structures were characterised by the phases’ exponents that exceeded the value of 2, which denoted low connectivity in the conductive phases. A qualitative and quantitative description of the woven structure was feasible, i.e., the connectedness and the connectivity, respectively. The connectedness of both of the phases was dependent on the material from which the structure was designed. The fraction of each of the phases involved in the current conductivity was important. The connectivity connected with structure density, in varying degrees, affected the electro-conductive properties of the woven structure. It was important how the phases were arranged in the whole composite. It was found that the strips’ contact phases played an important role in the structure of the composite.