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Properties and thermo-switch behaviour of LDPE mixed with carbon black, zinc metal and paraffin wax

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Abstract

This paper reports on the presence of wax and radiation-induced crosslinking on the morphology, thermal and mechanical properties, as well as electrical conductivity and thermo-switch properties of LDPE containing different amounts of carbon black (CB) or carbon black plus zinc metal as filler. Although the filler was generally well dispersed in the polymer or polymer/wax blend, there were clear indications of the formation of conductive pathways. Different combinations of polymer, wax, CB and zinc filler and radiation induced crosslinking gave rise to different extents of crystallinity and/or chain immobilization, which had an influence on the mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties, and on the electrical conductivity and thermo-switch behaviour. Most importantly, the presence of wax, and CB and CB/Zn fillers, gave rise to increased electrical conductivity. The thermal expansion in the composites did not seem to play a significant role in obtaining larger values of the positive temperature coefficient of resistivity (PTC). We found that the presence of a small amount of paraffin wax significantly increased the PTC coefficients of the LDPE based conductive composites, and that γ-radiation induced crosslinking provided the thermo-mechanical stability of the amorphous regions in LDPE needed to obtain a high PTC intensity, which would provide a cheap material with good thermo-switch functionality, which is something not observed before.

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Acknowledgements

The National Research Foundation of South Africa is acknowledged for financial support of the student who did the research reported in this paper (grant number UID 87867). Some of the experimental work was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science, Republic of Serbia (Project No. 171029).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of the Free State (Qwaqwa Campus), Private Bag X13, Phuthaditjhaba, South Africa

    Benison T. Motloung, Duško Dudić & Julia P. Mofokeng

  2. Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, University of Belgrade, P.O. Box 522, Belgrade, 11001, Serbia

    Duško Dudić

  3. Center for Advanced Materials, Qatar University, PO, Box 2713, Doha, Qatar

    Adriaan S. Luyt

Authors
  1. Benison T. Motloung
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  2. Duško Dudić
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  3. Julia P. Mofokeng
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  4. Adriaan S. Luyt
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Correspondence to Adriaan S. Luyt.

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Motloung, B.T., Dudić, D., Mofokeng, J.P. et al. Properties and thermo-switch behaviour of LDPE mixed with carbon black, zinc metal and paraffin wax. J Polym Res 24, 43 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-017-1205-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-017-1205-8

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