The Effect of Carbon Black Loadings on The Electrical Percolation Threshold of Linear Low-Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) And Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR) Conductive Polymer Composites

Abstract

The recent advancement in the flexible electronic devices have led to a growing interest around conductive polymer composites (CPCs). In this present study, a Linear Low-Density Polyethylene (LLDPE)/Carbon Black (CB) conductive polymer composites and Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR)/CB conductive polymer composites were made by melt compounding and mixing technique, respectively. The CB serves as conductive filler enhances the performance of LLDPE and LSR by improving their electrical conductivity in the composite systems. In this study, various CB loadings (2 wt.%, 4 wt.%, 6 wt.%, 8 wt.%, and 10 wt.%) had been incorporated within LLDPE and LSR matrices respectively. The CPCs were melt blended using an internal mixer for LLDPE/CB composite, whereas, for LSR/CB composite, a stir mixing technique was employed. In general, additions of CB within LLDPE and LSR matrices had affected the tensile properties of the composites. Nevertheless, it was found that the electrical conductivity for both CPCs were increased with increasing of CB loading. The SEM micrographs revealed the morphology of a fractured CPCs samples. Formation of a network path was believed to be the primary reasons for the increased in electrical conductivity of both composites systems and it was anticipated that the percolation threshold for both CPCs was at 6 wt.% loading.