Mechanical and electrical behaviour of “Magnex DC” conductive polymer composite

Abstract

Mechanical and electrical behaviour of the “Magnex DC” conductive polymer composite is reported. X-ray diffraction patterns and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) show that the composite has a semicrystalline, isotropic, and defected structure. It was found that both the elastic modulus and yield stress increase with decreasing temperature; the yield stress increases nonlinearly with increasing strain rate due to the voids in the composite. In addition, the activation energy and the activation volume of a single rate-activated process observed at relatively high strain rates are determined. The dependence of the impedance behaviour on frequency is investigated. It was observed that the a.c. conductivity is almost independent of frequency below 10 kHz and increases with frequency above this range. The values obtained for the conductivity indicate that the composite has a relatively small electrical conduction which is rather less than that for the pure semiconductors.