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Electrical, Morphological and Rheological Study of Melt‐Mixed Polystyrene/Copper Nanowire Nanocomposites
Author(s) -
Lin Bin,
Gelves Genaro A.,
Haber Joel A.,
Pötschke Petra,
Sundararaj Uttandaraman
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
macromolecular materials and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1439-2054
pISSN - 1438-7492
DOI - 10.1002/mame.200800045
Subject(s) - materials science , agglomerate , polystyrene , nanocomposite , nanowire , copper , rheology , composite material , percolation (cognitive psychology) , microstructure , polymer , percolation threshold , electrical resistivity and conductivity , nanotechnology , metallurgy , engineering , neuroscience , electrical engineering , biology
Polystyrene and copper nanowires were melt‐mixedat 200 °C and 50 rpm in 5 mL and 15 mL DSM co‐rotating conical micro‐compounders (DSM5 and DSM 15), respectively. The electrical, morphological and rheological properties of the resulting nanocomposites were studied. The electrical percolation of nanocomposites is between 1.0 and 2.0 vol.‐% for the composites prepared in DSM5 and above 2.0 vol.‐% for the composites prepared in DSM15. SEM micrographs show smaller copper nanowire agglomerates inside polystyrene from DSM15 than those from DSM5. However, TEM micrographs reveal that both single copper nanowires and nanowire bundles coexist in the polymer matrix for the samples prepared in both micro‐compounders. No obvious microstructure transition is detected by the dynamic rheological data at 200 °C.