Electrical Conductivity Modeling of Polypropylene Composites Filled with Carbon Black and Acetylene Black

Abstract

Composites of polypropylene filled with carbon black or acetylene black at different concentrations were prepared by melt mixing followed by compression molding. The influences of filler type and filler concentration on the composites conductivity were studied. It was found that the percolation threshold is located at a lower concentration in composites filled with the acetylene black, than that of the composites filled with carbon black. The model of Mamunya gives a fairly good agreement in the evaluation of the conductivity of polymeric composites loaded with carbon black or acetylene black, beyond the percolation threshold. The Boltzman equation was adopted to develop a model that represents more faithfully all results obtained. The expressions of the electrical conductivity, calculated with the model developed, are in good agreement with experimental results for the entire concentration range studied in linear or semilogarithmic scale.