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Influence of Screw Speed on Electrical and Rheological Percolation of Melt‐Mixed High‐Impact Polystyrene/MWCNT Nanocomposites
Author(s) -
McClory Caroline,
Pötschke Petra,
McNally Tony
Publication year - 2011
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.201000220
Subject(s) - materials science , composite material , rheology , percolation (cognitive psychology) , nanocomposite , dispersion (optics) , percolation threshold , polystyrene , electrical resistivity and conductivity , polymer , physics , electrical engineering , engineering , neuroscience , optics , biology
Abstract The influence of screw speed on the electrical and rheological percolation of HIPS/MWCNT composites prepared via melt mixing was investigated. Microscopic examination of these composites using POM, FESEM and HRTEM revealed optimum MWCNT dispersion was achieved at intermediate screw speeds. On addition of MWCNTs to HIPS, the electrical conductivity of HIPS increased by up to 12 orders of magnitude. At screw speeds up to 100 rpm an electrical percolation of 1–3 wt.‐% was achieved. This increased to 3–5 wt.‐% when the screw speed was increased to 150 rpm. The onset of a rheological percolation was detected for an MWCNT loading of 5 wt.‐%, irrespective of screw speed employed. An up‐shift in the Raman G‐band of 24 cm −1 was observed, implying strong interfacial interaction between HIPS and MWCNTs.