The deformation behavior of conductivity in composites where charge carrier transport is by tunneling: theoretical modeling and experimental results

A theoretical model is proposed to describe the deformation dependence of the dc-conductivity in composites in which tunneling is the dominant mechanism of charge carrier transport. It is experimentally shown that carbon black filled composites exhibit three different types of deformation behavior of the conductivity depending on the filler concentration. The model proposed explains these types of behavior and shows good agreement with the experimental results obtained for a wide range of deformations and filler concentrations.