Physical property and electrical conductivity of electroless Ag-plated carbon fiber-reinforced paper

The addition of a large amount of conductive filler to paper in order to increase electrical conductivity adversely affects some physical properties of the paper. Hence, it is desirable that conductive paper can be manufactured by adding only a small amount of conductive filler. Reinforced paper was manufactured by adding (1) electroless Ag-plated carbon fiber or (2) activated carbon fiber to the pulp. We investigated the effects of adding Ag-plated carbon fiber on the microstructure, physical properties, electrical conductivity, etc., of the paper. We found that the addition of a small amount of Ag-plated carbon fiber to the pulp made it possible to manufacture conductive paper with a high level of electrical conductivity and great physical strength. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.