2 - Electrical Conductivity in Polymer Composite Filled With Carbon Microfillers

Abstract

Carbon materials particularly in the form of microstructures such as graphite and carbon fiber (CF) have fascinated research interest in polymer composite technology for several decades. With the desire of improved composite properties, graphite has been modified via increasing interlayer spacing to form expanded graphite (EG). Consequently, the demand of electrically conducting composites in technical relevances has motivated the investigations on polymer/graphite or EG and polymer/CF composites. This chapter actually focuses various essential prospects of conducting polymeric composite reinforced with carbon-based microfillers. Electrical conductivity of polymer/graphite composites depends on the formation of percolation network, while it depends on parameters of filler (i.e., electrical conductivity, aspect ratio, surface energy, loading value, distribution, dispersion, and orientation), matrix (i.e., electrical conductivity, surface energy, and polymer structure). EG has also been found to improve the conducing properties of polymer composite compared with neat graphite at low loading levels. High-performance electrically conducting polymer/carbon composites can be attained via optimizing filler content, modification, filler dispersion, and orientation, and appropriate fabrication process and processing conditions.