Experimental and numerical analysis of conductive ternary polymer blend composites

Abstract

ABSTRACTExperimental and theoretical analysis of the phase morphology and electrical conductivity of a carbon black (CB)‐filled polypropylene /poly(methyl methacrylate) /ethylene acrylic acid copolymer ternary system were compared. The Cahn‐Hilliard theory was used to model and predict the phase morphology and electrical conductivity as a function of the constituents' characteristics of the ternary system. A method for generating statistically representative microstructures of a co‐continuous ternary polymer system and a numerical method for calculating the resultant electrical conductivity of these ternary polymer systems are presented. Excellent agreement between numerically calculated and experimentally measured results was observed. The developed analytical and numerical models were able to successfully predict the electrical percolation threshold with that of ternary polymer composites containing CB as a conductive medium with minimal experimental input. The combination of experimental and numerical results presented suggests the optimization of the conductive minor phase includes having a conductivity beyond the critical percolation threshold, is at least three orders of magnitude greater than either of the two nonconductive phases, and has a lower viscosity than the other two major phases in order to maximize the phase separation kinetics. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 44749.