A Statistical Mechanical Model of Electrical Carbon Fiber Contacts

Abstract

This paper presents a model for electrical carbon fiber contacts. In the model, a statistically distributed fiber length was considered at contact surfaces. A technique of dealing with this kind of contact surfaces with statistically determined, or specifically undeterminable, geometry was developed. The results were compared with the experimental data obtained previously. Also, the contact behaviors of electrical carbon fiber contacts were discussed and some specific contact properties, which were also observed experimentally, were clarified. A contact resistance decreasing rate was defined in a logarithmic-logarithmic scale coordinate. A constant-rate contact region was identified. The objective of this research is to provide a theoretical basis for the contact surface designs of electrical connectors.