Network of metal fibers and method of assembling a fiber network

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of assembling a fiber network comprising a plurality of metal fibers, wherein the method comprises the following steps: providing a loose network out of the plurality of metal fibers at an assembling site; fixing the plurality of metal fibers to one another by forming contact points between the single metal fibers by heating the plurality of fibers at a heating rate higher than 50 K/min, in particular higher than 100 K/min, especially higher than 200 K/min, preferably higher than 1000 K/min, to a fixation temperature selected in the range of 50 to 98% of their melting point temperature; and cooling the plurality of fibers at a cooling rate higher than 50 K/min, preferably higher than 100 K/min. The invention further relates to a network of metal fibers comprising a plurality of metal fibers fixed one to another at contact points, wherein the metal fibers non-round cross section, in particular a rectangular, quadratic, partial circular or an elliptical cross section with a large axis and a small axis, or wherein the metal fibers comprise a round cross section, and wherein the fibers comprise a width which is generally constant along a length of the fiber such that a variation of the width of the fiber along its length is less than 40%, preferably less than 30%, in particular less than 20%.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.