Electrically-conductive broad good
AssigneeGeneral Nano LLC
InventorsJoseph E. Sprengard, Larry Allen Christy, Jae Hak Kim
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A electrically-conductive broad good having an electrically-conductive nonwoven veil comprising with a plurality of metal-coated fibers looped randomly throughout the nonwoven veil and a binder material binding the plurality of metal-coated fibers together into the nonwoven veil and a first metal coating covering the conductive nonwoven veil wherein the first metal coating increases the number of electrical interconnections between the plurality of metal-coated carbon fibers within the conductive nonwoven veil and increases the conductivity and ampacity of the plurality of metal-coated fibers.
Claims18
An electrically-conductive broad good, comprising:
- (A) a dimensionally-stable electrically-conductive nonwoven veil comprising:
- (i) a plurality of metal-coated fibers comprising a fiber selected from the group consisting of aramid, carbon, fiberglass, glass, graphene, carbon nanotubes, silicon carbide, nylon, polyester, thermoplastics, and combinations thereof, and one or more metal layers applied to the fibers, the metal-coated fibers having a staple length looped randomly throughout the nonwoven veil, wherein the metal of the one or more metal layers is selected from the group consisting of nickel, copper, silver, an alloy of nickel and iron (Ni/Fe), an alloy of copper and tin (Cu/Sn), an alloy of phosphor bronze (Cu/Sn/P), and a combination thereof, and
- (ii) a binder material binding to an outer surface of the one or more metal layers to bind the plurality of metal-coated fibers together at a plurality of proximal points, to form the dimensionally-stable electrically-conductive nonwoven veil;
- and
- (B) a first metal coating contacting directly and covering substantially all of the surfaces of substantially all the plurality of metal-coated fibers, and of the binder material, wherein the first metal coating forms an electrically-conductive pathway over the surfaces of the binder material and the plurality of metal-coated fibers that are bound together by the binder material;
- and
- (C) an optional second metal coating covering the surface of the first metal coating.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.