Improved electrical conductivity of polyamide 12/graphene nanocomposites with maleated polyethylene-octene rubber prepared by melt compounding.

Electrically conductive polyamide 12 (PA12)/graphene binary nanocomposites with a low percolation threshold of 0.3 vol % were prepared by melt compounding. A rapid increase in electrical conductivity from 2.8 × 10(-14) S/m of PA12 to 6.7 × 10(-2) S/m was achieved with ~1.38 vol % graphene. It is shown that graphene sheets were homogeneously dispersed in PA12 matrix. Furthermore, polyethylene-octene rubber grafted with maleic anhydride (POE-g-MA) was used to further enhance the electrical conductivity of PA12/graphene nanocomposites. Three compounding sequences were adopted to tailor the microstructure and properties of the ternary nanocomposites. Both highest electrical conductivity and storage modulus were obtained when most graphene sheets were located in PA12 matrix rather than in POE-g-MA phase.