Copper plated graphite, carbon nanotubes and polyaniline effect on the properties of electroconductive polyethylene compositions

Abstract

There have been presented electrophysical (electrical volume resistivity), mechanical (tensile strength and elongation at break) and rheological (melt flow index) features of polyethylene compositions filled by copper plated graphite, multiwall carbon nanotubes and polyaniline in this article. An increase in the volume content of electroconductive fillers in the polyethylene matrix results in a monotonically falling curves with a well-defined threshold of leakage. The decrease in tensile strength by ∼ 4 times and relative elongation by ∼ 7 times have been observed in the polyethylene composite films having copper plated graphite and polyaniline up to 30 % vol. The tensile strength for conductive polyethylene compositions filled by multiwall carbon nanotubes slightly increases by ∼ 1.1 times, but relative elongation decreases dramatically by ∼ 5 times. The melt flow index decreases with the increase of concentration by exponential law for the compositions filled by multiwall carbon nanotubes and polyaniline by ∼ 1.4 times and increases for copper plated graphite filled compositions by ∼ 2 times due lubricating effect. There has been developed technological process of production for electroconductive polymer composite materials based on polyethylene by pressing method.