CONDUCTIVE POLYMER COMPOSITES

The modification of electrical and mechanical properties of a low-dens ity polyethylene (LDPE) filled with copper particles, having an averag e diameter of 40 mu m, has been analyzed. A drastic decrease of the el ectrical resistivity of the composites is observed, about 14 orders of magnitude when 40 volume percent of copper is added. The mechanical p roperties of the composites are poor. Accelerated thermal tests were c arried out and they did not reveal significant polymer thermal degrada tion in the presence of the copper particles. Melt mixing is by far su perior to dry blending for sample preparation due to a much better hom ogenization of particles within the polymer matrix. An on-going work f ocuses on improvement of the mechanical properties by using coupling a gents.