Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 2014, 53 (6), 2270-2276.

Juan Hu, Hao-Bin Zhang, Song Hong, Zhi-Guo Jiang, Chenxi Gui, Xiaofeng Li*, Zhong-Zhen Yu*.

To simultaneously improve electrical conductivity and toughness of polyamide 6(PA6), carbon black(CB) nanoparticles and maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene-octene copolymer (POE-g-MA) were compounded withPA6 by melt compounding, and the influences of CB and POE-g-MA components on the electrical conductivityand mechanical properties of PA6 nanocomposites were investigated. The addition of CB improves the electricalconductivity and Young's modulus of PA 6. With 40 wt % POE-g-MA and 15 wt % CB, the nanocomposite exhibits a high notched impact energy of 73.9 kJ/m(2) and an electrical conductivity of 7.1 x 10(-6) S/m. Interestingly, the presence of POE-g-MA reduces the electrical percolation threshold of the PA 6 nanocomposites due to the selective localization of CB in the PA 6 matrix. Compared to PA 6/CB binary nanocomposites, the ternary nanocomposites exhibit both higher electrical conductivity and supertoughness.