Versatile electrical fiber brush and method of making

Abstract

A versatile electrical fiber brush comprising the following components: Firstly a brush body, which is not necessarily equiaxed, non-porous, rigid or all in one piece, made of a matrix material, not necessarily electrically conductive, embedded in which is at least one set of similarly formed fibers, in which there may be embedded other, thinner fibers, and in these fibers still thinner fibers. Secondly, at least one fibrous part which is formed by removing from a part of the brush body most or all of the matrix material plus, as the conditions may make it advisable, some fibrous material. Third, at least one working surface, this being the macroscopic surface of a brush where it makes contact with the object(s) to which electrical connection shall be made. Fourth at least one set of electrically conductive fiber wires which form at least part of the working surface as well as of the fibrous part. The mechanical resilience and compliance of the fibrous parts is controlled by a system of secondary and tertiary fibers, these being generated from the embedment of fibers in fibers in the body of the brush. The electrical properties of the brush are controlled by the fiber wires. By making extremely large numbers of fiber wires of very small diameters to contact the object at the working surface of a brush, quantum-mechanical tunneling is expected to become the predominant mechanism of current conduction, yielding extremely good brush performance, while at same time brush wear is forecast to be very low.