Abstract
The theoretical description of electrical properties of polymer melts, filled with attractively interacting conduc- tive particles, represents a great challenge. Such filler particles tend to build a network-like structure which is very fragile and can be easily broken in a shear flow with shear rates of about 1 s -1 . In this study, measured shear-induced changes in electrical conductivity of polymer composites are described using a superposition approach, in which the filler particles are separated into a highly conductive percolating and low conductive non-percolating phases. The latter is represented by sep- arated well-dispersed filler particles. It is assumed that these phases determine the effective electrical properties of compos- ites through a type of mixing rule involving the phase volume fractions. The conductivity of the percolating phase is described with the help of classical percolation theory, while the conductivity of non-percolating phase is given by the matrix conductivity enhanced by the presence of separate filler particles. The percolation theory is coupled with a kinetic equation for a scalar structural parameter which describes the current state of filler network under particular flow condi- tions. The superposition approach is applied to transient shear experiments carried out on polycarbonate composites filled with multi-wall carbon nanotubes.
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