DEVELOPMENT OF AN ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE FIBER-REINFORCED PLASTIC PIPE

Fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) pipe has much lower density and better corrosion resistance characteristics than currently used alloy pipe, b ut it generally does not conduct electricity as well as steel pipe. In this study, an FRP pipe was made conductive by doping the inner liner vinyl ester resin with milled carbon fibers. The joints were also mad e conductive using the same resin, thus allowing the pipe to be electr ically grounded. The result was a pipe having a surface resistivity of less than 125 Ohm/square using current manufacturing processes.