Novel Functional Nitrile Butadiene Rubber/Magnetite Nano Composites for NTCR Thermistors Application

A new negative temperature coefficient of resistor (NTCR) thermistors based on nitrile butadiene rubber/magnetite (NBR/Fe3O4) nanocomposites were successfully fabricated by conventional roll milling technique. X-ray diffraction and transmission (TEM) analysis showed that the product is mainly magnetite nanoparticles with diameter of 10-13 nm. The microstructure of (NBR/Fe3O4) nanocomposites were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and FTIR spectroscopy. The dispersion of magnetite nanoparticles in the NBR rubber matrix and interfacial bonding between them were rather good. The thermal stability of nanocomposites was also obviously improved with the inclusion of the magnetite nanoparticles. The thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and specific heat of nanocomposites were investigated. The electrical conductivity of the NBR/Fe3O4 increases with the rise in temperature exhibiting a typical negative temperature coefficient of resistance (NTCR) behavior like a semiconductor. The nature of the temperature variation of electrical conductivity and values of activation and hopping energy, suggest that the transport conduction process is controlled by hopping mechanism. Values of characteristics parameters of the thermistors like thermistor constant, thermistor sensitivity and thermistor stability is quite good for practical application as NTCR devices at high temperature. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 121: 3604-3612, 2011