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Electroconductive nylon 6 and copper composites
Author(s) -
Larena Alicia,
Pinto Gabriel
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
polymer composites
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.577
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1548-0569
pISSN - 0272-8397
DOI - 10.1002/pc.750160613
Subject(s) - materials science , composite material , percolation threshold , electrical resistivity and conductivity , copper , compression molding , percolation (cognitive psychology) , void (composites) , metal , metallurgy , mold , neuroscience , electrical engineering , biology , engineering
A study is reported on the effect of the filler size and concentration on the electrical resistivity, density, and hardness of composites made of copper powder embedded in nylon 6 matrix by means of compression molding. The electrical resistivity of the composites is > 10 11 ohm·cm unless the metal content reached the percolation threshold, beyond which the resistivity decreased markedly by as much as 10 12 . The percolation concentration was found to decrease with a decrease in the average particle diameter. The density of the composites was measured and compared with values calculated assuming different void levels within the samples. However, there is no sharp variation in the density due to the onset of percolation. Furthermore, it is shown that a percolation concentration can be also defined in the hardness/metal concentration curves as the intercept of linear regression curves of the low and high metal content regimes, respectively.