Development of an electrically conductive fiber reinforced plastic pipe

Abstract Fiber‐reinforced plastic (FRP) pipe has much lower density and better corrosion resistance characteristics than currently used alloy pipe, but 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 made conductive using the same resin, thus allowing the pipe to be electrically grounded. The result was a pipe having a surface resistivity of less than 125 Ω/□ using current manufacturing processes.