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Influence of mechanical blending method and consolidation temperature on electrical properties of the prepared graphene nanoplatelet/UHMWPE composite

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Abstract

The high performance of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) has led to its use in aerospace, industrial and medical applications. Reinforced with conductive fillers, it has been used to develop conductive polymer composites through the formation of a segregated structure. For assessing the influence of processing conditions on electrical properties, coatings based on graphene nanoplatelet (GNP)/UHMWPE composites at a GNP content of 0.1 to 8 wt% were prepared, by two different mechanical blending methods, i.e., using a ball mill (BM) or blade mixer (BL), followed by a hot-compression process at different consolidation temperatures, 175 ºC or 240 ºC. Percolation thresholds at 0.5 wt% and 3.0 wt% were observed with the aforementioned mechanical techniques, respectively, with a jump in conductivity exceeding ten orders of magnitude. The use of the highest consolidation temperatures provided a decrease of the percolation threshold to 0.3 wt% in the composites prepared by ball mill, while maintain the same critical content by using the blade mixer technique. Images obtained by optical and scanning electron microscopy allowed to associate the former behavior to the different relative position of GNP and UHMWPE powder: the ball mill flaked the GNPs onto the surface while the blade mixer embedded the GNPs into voids in the fibrillary structure. Lock-in thermography (LIT) revealed on the surface of the composite manufactured by ball milling a better distribution of the graphene and the corresponding electrical paths, compared with the composites prepared by blade mixer.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author JAP.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Government of Aragon, Spain together with the European Social Fund (projects RIS3: LMP21-18 and DGA T-48-17R).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Technology, Instituto de Investigación en Ingeniería de Aragón, I3A, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, 50018, Spain

    José Antonio Puértolas & María José Martínez-Morlanes

  2. Department of Materials Science and Technology, Escuela de Ingeniería y Arquitectura, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, 50018, Spain

    José Antonio Puértolas

  3. Centro Universitario de la Defensa de Zaragoza, Academia General Militar, Zaragoza, 50090, Spain

    Francisco Javier Pascual

  4. CNT-Application Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, 305-8565, Japan

    Takahiro Morimoto

Authors
  1. José Antonio Puértolas
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  2. María José Martínez-Morlanes
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  3. Francisco Javier Pascual
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  4. Takahiro Morimoto
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and composite consolidation were performed by M.J. Martínez-Morlanes and F.J. Pascual. Thermogravimetric analysis was performed by M.J. Martínez-Morlanes and F.J. Pascual. Electrical resistance tests, conventional Raman spectroscopy and Optical and SEM characterization were conducted by J.A. Puértolas and M.J. Martínez-Morlanes. Micro-Raman mapping measurement and LIT measurements and analysis were performed by T. Morimoto. The frst draft of the manuscript was written by J.A. Puértolas and commented by all authors before submitting. F.J. Pascual improved the graphical art and composed the final manuscript. All authors read and approved the fnal manuscript.

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Correspondence to José Antonio Puértolas.

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Puértolas, J.A., Martínez-Morlanes, M.J., Pascual, F.J. et al. Influence of mechanical blending method and consolidation temperature on electrical properties of the prepared graphene nanoplatelet/UHMWPE composite. J Polym Res 30, 21 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-022-03381-z

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