Influence of clay nanofiller on electrical and rheological properties of conductive polymer composite

The influence of melt dispersion of intercalted montmorillonite nanofiller (MT) on electrical and rheological properties of three conductive polymer composites (CPC): poly(ethylene)-carbon black (PE-CB), poly(propylene)-carbon black (PP-CB) and poly(ethylene-co-ethyl acrylate)-carbon black (EEA-CB) has been investigated as a function of the nature of both fillers and matrices. Even at very low content, i.e., less than 1.25% v/v, MT has an important effect on the percolation threshold and on the storage (G') and loss (G") moduli. The phenomena observed tend to show that CB aggregates can adsorb on MT platelets thus modifying both the level of CB dispersion and the flow properties. Added to EEA-CB, MT decreases the resistivity by 2.5 decades and decrease the storage modulus in the melt by 40% thus improving the conductivity and processing conditions. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.