Ceramic fibres electrical properties

Okubo A, Miyayama M, Yanagida H, Electrical properties of pitch based semi-conductive carbon fibres, J Ceramic Soc Japan, 103(9), 954-959, 1995. 

Although the uses of ceramic fibres in composite structures lie mainly in ceramic-matrix and metal-matrix composites, where their outstanding chemical and thermal resistance are important, there are a few applications in organic polymers. Their relevant properties are low thermal expansion, low electrical conductivity, low dielectric constant, high stiffness, good compressive strength, and in most cases complete resistance to combustion. On the other hand they are very brittle, hard to process, and mostly considerably more expensive than carbon and para-aramid fibres. They have, for example, been used in hybrid structures with carbon and para-aramid and in electronic circuit boards. The fibres available or potentially available include alumina, combinations of alumina with... 

The thermal properties of fibre-reinforced composites are anisotropic. Expansion in the direction of the fibre is usually very small or negative, but the thermal conductivity of some carbon fibre composites in the fibre direction can be high. Most polymers and several types of fibre are good electrical insulators. Carbon and some ceramic fibres have a much lower resistivity. It is thus possible to use composites for manufacturing radomes as well as for electromagnetic screening materials and systems which absorb radar signals. 

J. A. Rice, C. S. Hazelton and M. J. Haun, Optimisation ofthe Electrical and Mechattical Properties of aLow Dielectric Loss, Continuous Fibre Ceramic Corrrposite, Ceram. Trans. 14,497-508 (1996). 

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