Fillers, conductive

Suitable electrically conductive fillers include carbon black, carbon fibers, vapor grown carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, metal fillers, conductive non-metal fillers, metal coated fillers, etc (7). 

Preferred carbon blacks include those having average particle sizes of less than 50 nm. Vapor grown carbon fibers should have diameters of 5-50 nm. 

Carbon nanotubes may consist of a single wall, wherein the tube diameter is about 0.7-2.4 nm, or the may have multiple, concentrically-arranged walls with a tube diameter of 2-50 nm. 

Conductive carbon fibers known for their use in modifying the 

Polyphosphoric acid amide Ammonium polyphosphoric acid amide Melamine poly(phosphate) (Melapur200 ) Melamine poly(phosphate) acid Melamine-modified ammonium poly(phosphate) Melamine-modified polyphosphoric acid amide Melamine-modified ammonium poly(phosphate) Melamine-modified carbamyl poly(phosphate) Carbamyl poly(phosphate) 

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Electrically conductive mbber (13) can be achieved by incorporation of conductive fillers, eg, use of carbon or metal powders. These mbbers exhibit volume resistivities as low as lO " H-cm. Apphcations include use in dissipation of static charge and in conductive bridging between dissimilar electronic materials under harsh operating conditions. 

In the 1990s, carbon microbeads have been produced by a proprietary process using phenoHc resin. Potential appHcations are lubricants, adhesives, and conductive fillers for plastics, mbbers, and coatings (97). 

Surfa.cta.nt-TypeAntista.ts, Inherently conductive antistats have the advantage of not being dependent on atmospheric moisture to function. Thek drawbacks include expense, coloration of the plastic, and alteration of the mechanical properties of the plastic. The added stiffness caused by conductive fillers may not be a problem with a rigid container, but it can be a problem for a flexible bag. 

This article addresses the synthesis, properties, and appHcations of redox dopable electronically conducting polymers and presents an overview of the field, drawing on specific examples to illustrate general concepts. There have been a number of excellent review articles (1—13). Metal particle-filled polymers, where electrical conductivity is the result of percolation of conducting filler particles in an insulating matrix (14) and ionically conducting polymers, where charge-transport is the result of the motion of ions and is thus a problem of mass transport (15), are not discussed. 

Conducting polymer composite materials (CPCM) — artificial media based on polymers and conductive fillers, have been known since the early 1940s and widely used in various branches of science and technology. Their properties are described in a considerable number of monographs and articles [1-12]. However, the publications available do not clearly distinguish such materials from other composites and do not provide for specific features of their formation. 

The CPCM constituents are a conducting filler and polymer matrix where this filler is dispersed randomly. 

As far as conducting fillers are concerned, we have rather a wide range of choice. In addition to the traditional and long used fillers, such as carbon black and metal powders [13] fiber and flaky fillers on organic or metal bases, conducting textures, etc recently appeared and came into use. The shape of the filler particles varies widely, but only the particle aspect ratio, the main parameter which determines the probability... 

Based on the above facts, it is convenient to classify the conducting fillers according to the following parameters ... 

The properties of traditional fillers, such as carbon black, graphite, metal powders, carbon fibers, are described in detail in [13], therefore, new kinds of conducting fillers which have recently appeared will be considered below. 

Conducting polymer composite materials are typical disordered structures consisting of randomly (or according to a certain law) arranged particles of a conducting filler that are submerged into a polymer medium. In this case the filler particles have macro-... 

Experimental dependences of conductivity cr of the CPCM on conducting filler concentration have, as a rule, the form predicted by the percolation theory (Fig. 2, [24]). With small values of C, a of the composite is close to the conductivity of a pure polymer. In the threshold concentration region when a macroscopic conducting chain appears for the first time, the conductivity of a composite material (CM) drastically rises (resistivity Qv drops sharply) and then slowly increases practically according to the linear law due to an increase in the number of conducting chains. 

Calculation of dependence of o on the conducting filler concentration is a very complicated multifactor problem, as the result depends primarily on the shape of the filler particles and their distribution in a polymer matrix. According to the nature of distribution of the constituents, the composites can be divided into matrix, statistical and structurized systems [25], In matrix systems, one of the phases is continuous for any filler concentration. In statistical systems, constituents are spread at random and do not form regular structures. In structurized systems, constituents form chainlike, flat or three-dimensional structures. 

Quite naturally, novel techniques for manufacturing composite materials are in principal rare. The polymerization filling worked out at the Chemical Physics Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences is an example of such techniques [49-51], The essence of the technique lies in that monomer polymerization takes place directly on the filler surface, i.e. a composite material is formed in the polymer forming stage which excludes the necessity of mixing constituents of a composite material. Practically, any material may be used as a filler the use of conducting fillers makes it possible to obtain a composite material having electrical conductance. The material thus obtained in the form of a powder can be processed by traditional methods, with polymers of many types (polyolefins, polyvinyl chloride, elastomers, etc.) used as a matrix. 

Any review devoted to conducting composites would be incomplete if the application fields of such composites were not described even if briefly. One of the first, if not the foremost, examples of the utilization of the CPCM is antistatic materials [1], For the materials of this kind resistivity q of less than 106 to 108 Ohm cm is not required, and this is achieved by introducing small amounts (several per cent) of a conducting filler, say, carbon black [4],... 

The main reasons for this lie in feasibility. Conducting fillers are rather expensive and their use increases the cost of an article. Besides, filled polymers have worse physical-mechanical properties, especially impact strength and flexural modulus. The use of fillers is also detrimental to the articles appearance and calls for additional treatment. The continuous development of electronics has also contributed to a loss of interest to conducting composites as screening materials the improvement of components and circuits of devices made it possible to reduce currents consumed and, thereby, noise level a so called can method is practised on a wide scale in order to cover the most sensitive or noisy sections of a circuit with metal housings [14]. 

Table 2. Types of Conducting Fillers and Concentrations Corresponding to Shielding Level of 40 dB and Surface Conductivity of 1 Ohm-1...

Fluorocarbons (PTFE, FEP, PVF2) Powder, emulsions Excellent high temperature properties. TFE to 500 F. FEP is easier to mold, but maximum use temperature is 400 F. Nearly inert chemically. Nonflammable. Loading with conductive filler improves creep resistance. Low coefficient of friction. High-temperature cable shielding, gaskets, heat-shrinkable tubing. 

Nonmetal electrodes are most often fabricated by pressing or rolling of the solid in the form of fine powder. For mechanical integrity of the electrodes, binders are added to the active mass. For higher electronic conductivity of the electrode and a better current distribution, conducting fillers are added (carbon black, graphite, metal powders). Electrodes of this type are porous and have a relatively high specific surface area. The porosity facilitates access of dissolved reactants (H+ or OH ions and others) to the inner electrode layers. 

Incorporating reinforcing particles that respond to a magnetic field is important with regard to aligning the particles to improve mechanical properties anisotropically [223-226]. In related work, some in-situ techniques have been used to generate electrically conducting fillers such as polyaniline within an elastomeric material [227],... 

Similar metal sheets have also been used as DLs in the cathode of PEMFCs. Wilkinson et al. [37,38] presented the idea of using fluid distribution layers made out of metal meshes with electrically conductive fillers inside the holes of the meshes. A very similar idea was also presented by Fiamada and Nakato [39]. Eosfeld and Eleven [40] presented another example of fuel cells that use metal meshes as diffusion layers along with metal FF plates. 

Carbon nanotubes can be employed either as electrode materials or conductive fillers for the active materials in various electrochemical energy-storage systems [20]. For energy generation and storage, nanotubes hold promise as supercapacitors. 

Although this technique is not normally used for thin polymer films for the reasons described before, it can be used for analyzing the surface of polymer composites containing conductive fillers, e.g. carbon fibers. In addition, because of the surface specificity, the sampled area can be maintained almost identically to the beam cross-section so that the scanning Auger microscope (SAM) can have a spatial resolution that is much better than that of microprobe analysis. 

Due to the dependence on mean free path as described in Eq. (4.40), the thermal conductivity of heterogeneous systems is impossible to predict on heat capacity alone. As in previous sections, we do know that disorder tends to decrease thermal conductivity due to mean free path considerations, and this is indeed the case for fillers with high thermal conductivities, such as copper and aluminum in epoxy matrices (see Table 4.12). The thermal conductivity of the epoxy matrix increases only modestly due to the addition of even high percentages of thermally conductive fillers. 

Although a majority of these composite thermistors are based upon carbon black as the conductive filler, it is difficult to control in terms of particle size, distribution, and morphology. One alternative is to use transition metal oxides such as TiO, VO2, and V2O3 as the filler. An advantage of using a ceramic material is that it is possible to easily control critical parameters such as particle size and shape. Typical polymer matrix materials include poly(methyl methacrylate) PMMA, epoxy, silicone elastomer, polyurethane, polycarbonate, and polystyrene. 

Polymers may also be converted from nonconductors to conductors of electricity by the addition of conductive fillers. Graphite-filled polymers are semiconductors, and polymers filled with aluminum flakes or aluminum filaments are relatively good conductors of electricity. 

The electric and heat conductivity of polymers may be increased by the incorporation of conductive fillers, such as aluminum flakes or metallic fibers. 

Because the conductive filler is located into a single component of the blend, these materials show an onset in the electrical conductivity at very low filler loadings of 2-3%. These findings have been explained by a double percolation effect. The CNT filled blends show superior mechanical properties in the tensile tests and in impact tests (25). 

Conductive Fillers. The incorporation of sufficiently large amounts of blacks can impart antistatic (resistivity 106-109 Q cm) or conductive (< 106 Q cm) properties to plastics. 

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