Ye.P. Mamunya

Electrical and thermal conductivity of polymers filled with metal powders

Abstract The electrical and thermal conductivity of systems based on epoxy resin (ER) and poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) filled with metal powders have been studied. Copper and nickel powders having different particle shapes were used as fillers. The composite preparation conditions allow the formation of a random distribution of metallic particles in the polymer matrix volume for the systems ER–Cu, ER–Ni, PVC–Cu and to create ordered shell structure in the PVC–Ni system. A model is proposed to describe the shell structure electric conductivity. The percolation theory equation σ ∼( ϕ − ϕ c ) t with t =2.4–3.2 (exceeding the universal t =1.7 value) holds true for the systems with dispersed filler random distribution, but not for the PVC–Ni system. The percolation threshold ϕ c depends on both particle shape and type of spatial distribution (random or ordered). In contrast to the electrical conductivity, the concentration dependence of thermal conductivity shows no jump in the percolation threshold region. For the description of the concentration dependence of the electrical and thermal conductivity, the key parameter is the packing factor F . F takes into account the influence of conductive phase topology and particle shape on the electrical and thermal conductivity.

Morphology and percolation conductivity of polymer blends containing carbon black

Abstract The structure of the polymers polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), and poly-(oxymethylene) (POM) and the blends PE-PP and PE-POM containing carbon black (CB) were studied. It was found that spatial distribution of CB depends on the interface interactions between the components of composites. It is possible to obtain three cases of filler spatial distribution: Filler can be distributed randomly within the polymer matrix, can be contained in one of the polymer components, or can be localized on the polymer-polymer boundary. The conditions of various filler distribution in the heterogeneous polymer matrix are given. The correlation between morphology of the composites and their percolation conductivity was found.

Scaling in percolation behaviour in conductive–insulating composites with particles of different size

The percolation behaviour of conductive composites containing particles of different sizes was analysed. A composite was simulated as the media containing small conductive particles distributed in the channels between large insulative particles, where each large particle is covered by n monolayers of the filler particles. The simulations were done for the cases of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) lattices. It was shown that the percolation filler concentration x* versus the particle size ratio λ = R/r and the number of monolayers n may be approximated as , where d is the space dimensionality; is the site random percolation threshold; neff is the effective number of monolayers, which decreases with increase in n and neff → n in the limit of n → ∞. The scaling behaviour of the percolation threshold inside the layers confined by the large particles was analysed. The data obtained at different values of λ and n gave the same correlation length exponent values as for the classical random percolation both for 2D and 3D cases. Analysis of the electrical conductivity behaviour near the percolation threshold in 2D systems showed the existence of the obvious differences at different values of λ and n, though the conductivity exponents s and t retained their universal values typical for the random percolation. The accuracy of the developed theoretical approach was experimentally tested for the polyvinyl chloride–copper (PVC–Cu) and polycarbonate–copper (PC–Cu) composites.

Processing, structure, and electrical properties of metal-filled polymers

Polymer-metal composites (PMCs) based on polyethylene (PE) and polyoxymethylene (POM) and on the blend PE/POM filled with dispersed iron or copper were prepared. Composites were produced by several methods: (1) extrusion of homopolymer (PE or POM) filled with iron, (2) extrusion of the blend PE/POM filled with iron, (3) compression molding of PE filled with dispersed copper, and (4) extrusion of PE filled with copper. The method of processing was found to influence the percolation behavior of electrical conductivity. Polymer-metal composites obtained by extrusion were characterized by low values of conductivity and high values of percolation threshold ϕ c , whereas composites based on the polymer blend showed low values of ϕ c . These differences are caused by the specific structure of composites based on the polymer blend. The metal filler was involved only in the POM phase and forms an ordered structure in the volume of the polymer matrix. PE-Cu composites produced by compression molding showed the best electrical parameters. A structure model explaining these results is proposed.

Dielectric Properties of Polymers Filled with Dispersed Metals

The authors have studied the dielectric properties of composite materials based on both thermoplastic and thermoset resins filled with nickel or copper, with various particle sizes and shapes. In addition, two types of particle distribution, random and segregated, were produced for composites filled with nickel. The main objective was to study the effect of the above factors on the dielectric properties of the composites. The concentration dependence of the dielectric parameters (i.e. the real, ∊′, and the imaginary, ∊″, parts of the complex dielectric permittivity and the dielectric loss tangent, tanδ), calculated for all the systems studied, demonstrates a critical behaviour in the percolation threshold region, with maximum values reached at a volume fraction ϕ = ϕc. The dependence of the dielectric parameters on concentration follows power-law behaviour in the ϕ < ϕc region. The critical exponent value for ∊′ is q = 0.75, in agreement with the theoretical one. The dielectric characteristics of the filled composites are more sensitive to the spatial filler distribution. For the segregated PVC-Ni system with an ordered filler distribution, the value of ϕc is much lower than for ER-Ni composites with a random filler distribution. Besides, for the segregated PVC-Ni system, the value of q is not constant, as it depends on the filler concentration. A model for the structure, which explains this behaviour, is proposed.