Micro-CT-Based Experimental Study on the 3D Structure–Electrical Conductivity Relationship of Metal-Coated Woven Fabrics

The investigated materials were metal-coated woven fabrics. X-ray micro-computed tomography was employed to characterize the fabrics, including their coating, yarn, and pore structures. Electrical resistance was measured using a four-electrode configuration inspired by the van der Pauw method. The obtained results revealed strong relationships between structural parameters and electrical properties of fabrics. Multidirectional resistance measurements confirmed continuous electrical conduction and low resistance values. Correlation analysis revealed that a thicker metal coating on the fabric surface may be associated with increased anisotropy of the electrical properties, with a correlation coefficient of 0.772 at the 0.05 significance level. The results suggest that an increase in pore sizes (mean and median) may be associated with higher resistance values (correlation coefficients ranged from 0.839 to 0.941 at the 0.05 significance level), potentially contributing to changes in the distribution of conductive regions within the fabric. An increase in pore sizes (median) may be associated with greater dimensional irregularity, which in turn may be related to increased direction-dependent variability in the electrical response, reflecting higher electrical anisotropy within the sample plane (correlation coefficient of 0.958 at the 0.05 significance level).