Influence of carbon black and carbon nanotubes on the conductivity, morphology, and rheology of conductive ternary polymer blends

The influence of carbon black (CB) and multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNT) with different colloidal properties on the phase morphology, electrical properties, and rheological behavior in a polypropylene (PP)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/ethylene acrylic acid copolymer (EAA) ternary polymer blend was studied. A PP/PMMA/(EAA-CNT) system was compared to two different PP/PMMA/(EAA-CB) systems. The relationship between the phase morphology, electrical percolation threshold, and rheological behavior was analyzed. The critical percolation threshold for the ternary system was found to be around 0.5 vol% for the PP/PMMA/(EAA-CB1) and 0.2 vol% for the PP/PMMA/(EAA-CB2) and PP/PMMA/(EAA-CNT), which were more than 8 times lower than for the single phase systems. The rheological threshold coincided with the electrical resistivity percolation threshold inversion point. It was proposed that beyond a critical loading of conductive filler particles in the minor EAA phase, especially for high aspect ratio fillers such as the CB2 and CNT, phase separation is slowed significantly due to the aggregation of particles into a network formation within the EAA phase causing a significant increase in phase viscosity. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that the kinetics of phase separation and resulting formation of a tri-continuous morphology are dictated by the viscosity of the minor phase relative to the two major phases. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 57:1329-1339, 2017. (c) 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers