TENSILE, THERMAL AND ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY PROPERTIES OF EPOXY COMPOSITES CONTAINING CARBON BLACK AND GRAPHENE NANOPLATELETS

Adding carbon fillers to a polymer produces composites with unique conductivity and tensile properties. Varying amounts of carbon black (CB: \u3c 1 wt%), graphene nanoplatelets (GNP: \u3c 20 wt%), and combination (0.33 wt% CB with \u3c 10 wt% GNP) of fillers were compounded in epoxy. The thermal and electrical conductivities and tensile properties were evaluated. These composites can be used for electrically insulating, static dissipative, or semi-conductive applications depending on the electrical resistivities (ER). The 0.33wt% CB/5wt% GNP composite caused the ER to significantly decrease, which is likely due to the highly branched CB forming conductive networks with GNP. Concerning single filler composites, adding ≤ 1 wt% CB did not significantly change the composite tensile properties; however, adding GNP did change tensile properties. One possible application for the 10 wt% GNP composite is in Polymer Core Composite Conductors for transmission lines, which require improved thermal conductivity and mechanical properties