A novel porous metal fiber sintered sheet (PMFSS) with high porosity was fabricated by the solid-state sintering method of copper fibers. In this study, the shear experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of porosity and sintering parameter on the shear properties of PMFSS. The typical shear stress–strain plot of PMFSS was obtained based on a larger number of shear test results. The shear fracture process of PMFSS was then divided into three steps: linear elastic stage, plastic deformation stage, and shear fracture stage. The shear strength was found to be decreased with increasing porosity ranging from 70% to 90% when the PMFSS was produced under the same sintering parameter. Moreover, the influence of sintering parameter on shear strength of PMFSS was also investigated. Our experimental results showed that the increase of the sintering temperature or holding time would give rise to the increase of shear strength of PMFSS.Highlights► The typical shear stress–strain plot of PMFSS was obtained. ► The shear fracture process of PMFSS was divided into three steps. ► The shear strength was decreased with increasing porosity. ► The higher shear strength was achieved under higher sintering temperature. ► Longer holding time also lead to slight increase of the shear strength.

Novel porous metal fiber sintered sheets (PMFSSs) with different porosities were fabricated by sintering copper fibers. Using four-point probe method, comparative study was conducted to investigate the effects of probe spacing, porosity, and sintering condition on the electrical conductivity of PMFSS. Our experimental results showed that probe spacing plays an important role in determining the electrical conductivity. Uniform probe spacing was adopted in order to reduce the error caused by non-uniformity of probe spacing. The measured electrical conductivity was found to decrease with increasing porosity ranging from 70% to 90% for the PMFSS produced under the same sintering condition. Our experimental results were found to agree well with the theoretical prediction by Liu’s model for the PMFSS with different porosities. The effect of sintering condition on electrical conductivity was also investigated. It was revealed that higher sintering temperature or longer holding time yields higher electrical conductivity of PMFSS.Highlights► We used four-point probe method to measure the electrical conductivity of PMFSS. ► Uniform probe spacing was adopted to measure the electrical conductivity. ► The electrical conductivity decreased with increasing porosity. ► The higher electrical conductivity was obtained under higher sintering temperature. ► Longer holding time also lead to the increase of electrical conductivity.