Journal of Materials Science, Vol.31, No.20, 5313-5319, 1996
Studies on the Electrical-Conductivity and Galvanomagnetic Characteristics of Short Carbon-Fiber Filled Thermoplastic Elastomers
The electrical resistivity of short carbon fibre filled thermoplastic elastomers based on natural rubber-high density polyethylene (NR-HDPE) blend and styrene-isoprene-styrene (S-I-S) block copolymer has been studied by varying the concentration of fibre from the 0 to 40 phr level. A sharp drop in resistivity is observed in both cases after a critical concentration of fibre is reached, with the S-I-S system showing lower values of critical concentration. At higher concentrations, experimental values of the electrical conductivity ag reed reasonably well with the calculated values from a theory based on the probability of formation of a conductive network. The effect of temperature on the resistivity of the composites has also been investigated in a temperature range of 27-120 degrees C and 27-90 degrees C for the NR-HDPE system and S-I-S system, respectively. The type of carrier in both the composites is found to be n-type, i.e. electrons, and the activation energy of hopping of the electrons for both the systems has been calculated. A Hall effect study has also been carried out to determine the carrier concentration and drift mobility of both the composites.