A promising conductive material: highly oriented polypropylene. filled with short vapour-grown carbon fibres

Polypropylene matrix composites in the form of a continuous, fibre, reinforced with submicron vapour-grown carbon fibre (VGCF), were prepared using a conventional polymer fibre processing technology. It has been found that materials with a unique set of mechanical and electrical properties can be obtained by combining polymer orientation and VGCF content. As-spun composites have Young's moduli of 3.0-6.3 GPa, tensile strengths of 40-77 MPa, and electrical resistivities down to 2.2 x 10(-2) Omega m. The spun samples may be stretched at 130 degreesC with a concomitant increase in the modulus and strength up to 720 MPa. and 14.9 GPa, respectively. The stretched composite fibre filled with 15 vol.% of VGCF shows tensile strength of 310 MPa and Young's modulus of 11.2 GPa, being still electrically conductive. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.