Electrically and thermally conductive nylon 6,6

Increasing the thermal and electrical conductivity of typically insulating polymers, such as nylon 6,6, opens new markets, A thermally conductive resi n can be used for heat sink applications. An electrically conductive resin can be used in static dissipative and Electromagnetic Interference/Radio Fr equency Interference shielding applications. This research focused on addin g various carbon based conductive fillers and a chopped glass fiber to nylo n 6,6. These materials were extruded and injection molded into test specime ns. Tensile tests as well as in-plane electrical resistivity, in-plane ther mal conductivity, and through-plane thermal conductivity tests were conduct ed. One successful formulation consisted of 10% 3.2 mm chopped E-glass fibe r/15% Thermocarb (high quality synthetic powdered graphite)/5% carbon black /70% nylon 6,6 (all % in wt%). For this formulation, the in-plane electrica l resistivity was reduced from 10(15) ohm-cm (neat nylon 6,6) to 15 ohm-cm. The through-plane thermal conductivity increased from 0.25 W/mK (neat nylo n 6,6) to 0.7 W/mK. The tensile elongation at failure was 1.4%.