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Lowering The Percolation Threshold In Carbon Blackfilled Polymer Composites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

J. C. Grujnlan
Affiliation:
Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department, Center for Interfacial Engineering, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN 55455, [email protected]
W. W. Gerberich
Affiliation:
Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department, Center for Interfacial Engineering, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN 55455, [email protected]
L. F. Francis
Affiliation:
Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department, Center for Interfacial Engineering, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN 55455, [email protected]
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Abstract

In an effort to lower the percolation threshold of carbon black-filled polymer composites, various polymer microstructures were examined. Composites prepared with a polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) latex and a poly(vinyl acetate – ethylene) water-dispersible powder showed a significantly lowered percolation threshold relative to an equivalently prepared composite that used a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution to form the matrix phase. The percolation threshold of the dispersion-based composites occurred at 5 vol.% carbon black, while the equivalent solutionbased composite produced a threshold at 14 vol.%. By excluding the carbon black from regions occupied by polymeric particles, the dispersion-based composites lead to preferential aggregation of carbon black, as evidenced by SEM, and a lowered percolation threshold.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1999

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References

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