Thermal and mechanical behaviour of a conductive elastomeric blend based on a soluble polyaniline derivative

The electrical, mechanical and thermal behaviour of a conductive polymer blend prepared by combining the elastomer poly(epichlorohydrin-co-ethylene oxide); which presents ionic conductivity when containing LiClI4, and a soluble derivative of polyaniline, poly(o-methoxyaniline) doped with It-toluene sulfonic acid, is described in this work. This mixture presents electrical conductivity sufficient for substitution with advantages to the existing conductive elastomers in several applications. Concentrations of the electronic conducting polymer up to 10% (w/w) increase the electrical conductivity of the elastomer by three orders of magnitude, with no changes in its mechanical properties. With 50% (w/w) of poly(o-methoxyaniline), the electrical conductivity of the mixture reaches 10(-3) S cm-l. Thermal stability of the components are affected by the mixture. DSC and SEM experiments indicate phase separation in the blend. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.