Measurements of the Volume and Surface Resistance of Textile Materials

A lot of standards describe resistance and resistivity measurement methods appropriate for a particular material or product. In the case of textile materials, some evolution has occurred in both the defnitions and measurement techniques in the sphere of resistance and resistivity measurements. Some standards outline a two-electrode measurement system for surface resistance. The sole volume nature of conduction current is assumed to appear in textile materials. This assumption leads to a specifc relation between the volume Rv2 and "surface" resistances Rs (Rv1). In this study, it was also shown that in the case of standard electrodes, the parameter (Rv1/Rv2) h2 (where h is the sample thickness) should be constant. The value of this parameter, determined experimentally, was found to be constant for fabrics with a volume resistivity that changed over three orders of magnitude. However, the parameter value was much lower in comparison to that predicted theoretically. The phenomenon observed was explained by the infuence of additional contact resistance appearing between the sample surface and the rigid electrodes, as well as by the anisotropy of resistivity.