A new process of fabricating electrically conducting nylon 6/graphite nanocomposites via intercalation polymerization

A new process was developed to fabricate electrically conducting nylon 6/gr aphite nanocomposites via intercalation polymerization of epsilon-caprolact am in the presence of expanded graphite. The transition from an electrical insulator to an electrical semiconductor for nylon 6 occurred when the grap hite volume content was 0.75, which was much lower than that of conventiona l conducting polymer composites. The electrical conductivity reached 10(-4) S/cm when the graphite content was 2.0 vol %. The TEM microphotographs sug gested that the low percolation threshold and the great improvement of elec trical conductivity could be attributed to the high aspect ratio (width-to- thickness), the high expansion ratio in c axis of the graphite sheets and t he homogeneous dispersion of the nanoscale graphite particles in the nylon 6 matrix. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.