2020 Volume 41 Issue 5 Pages 193-200
Electrically conductive and low viscosity epoxy blends containing small amount of silver (Ag) fillers, were researched. In specific, diglycidyl ethers of bisphenol-F (DGEBF) / dicyclopentenyl oxyethyl methacrylate (DPOMA) mixtures were polymerized in curing process to be formulated as the matrix resins for the electrically conductive polymer composites. The DGEBF/40wt%DPOMA polymer blends formed co-continuous phase structures in the cured composites.Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the Ag fillers were selectively localized in the methacrylate polymer-rich phases of the blends. The selective placement of the Ag fillers in the continuous phase with a relatively small volume fraction increased the continuity of the Ag fillers. As the results, the Ag filler content in the DGEBF/DPOMA/Ag composites was reduced by 30vol% in order to achieve the same electrical conductivity as that in the DGEBF/Ag composites. The mechanism of the selective placement of Ag fillers was discussed in terms of the affinity among epoxy, methacrylic resin and Ag fillers, measuring their Hansen solubility parameter (HSP).
