Electro-conductive fillers

Incorporating electro-conductive fillers into the plastic compound... 

Graphite is usually used as an electro conductive filler due to its low cost and natural electrical conductivity. It also has a positive influence on the mechanical properties, as well as thermal and dimensional stability (Lin et al. 2009). Substitution of carbon black with renewable filler has been investigated in recent years. Carbon black has some advantages such as low cost, low density, high electrical conductivity, and, in particular, specific structures that enable the formation of conductive network (Wan et al. 2005 Jong 2007). 

Lin Q, Harb JN. Implementation of a thick-film composite Li-ion microcathode using carbon nanotubes as the conductive filler. J Electro chem Soc 2004 151 A1115-A1119. 

Besides the intrinsic conductive polymers, some deformable polymers, such as shape-memory polymers, are usually activated by heating. After incorporating with conductive fillers, such as carbon nanomaterials, they can be simulated by the electricity through Joule heating (Liu et al., 2009 Hu and Chen, 2010 Koerner et al., 2004). This kind of electro thermally active polymer composites can produce expansion/contraction and bending behaviors upon with the electricity. Moreover, these actuators can work durably... 

Composites with filler concentrations close to the percolation threshold exhibit conductivity which is sensitive to compressive deformation, since this brings the metal particles into contact, thereby forming percolation pathways. This sensitivity has been exploited especially in anisotropic composites. These are made by prealigning the metal particles with either electric or magnetic fields. This alignment is identical with that produced by external fields in electro- and magneto-rheological fluids where at a critical field continuous threads of... 

The vast catalogue of polymeric materials reviewed here included Nafion composite with inorganic and organic fillers, and non-fluorinated proton conducting membranes such as sulfonated polyimides, poly(arylene ether)s, polysulfones, poly (vinyl alcohol), polystyrenes, and acid-doped polybenzimidazoles. Anion-exchange membranes are also discussed because of the facile electro-oxidation of alcohols in alkaline media and because of the minimizatirHi of alcohol crossover in alkaline direct alcohol fuel cells. 

Eleikkila, P Harlin A Electro spinning of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) solution effect of conductive additive and filler on the process. Express Polymer Letters 2009, 3, 437-445. 

For many electro-technical and automotive applications plastics components have to fulfill enhanced demands on their electrical and thermal conductivity. A novel material eombination of metal fiber reinforced thermoplastics and low melting metal alloys allows a significant increase in the maximum filler content and therefore in the electrical conductivity in comparison to just solidly filled polymers, because the low-viscous alloy is already molten during manufacturing. The material can be processed economically to complex shaped parts by conventional injection molding. The material composition, the processing behavior and the resulting part characteristics will be discussed in this paper. 

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