Electroless plating of silver on graphite powders and the study of its conductive adhesive

In this paper, silver plating graphite powders were developed by electroless plating method. The density of silver plating graphite powders was 2.61 g/cm3 and the ratio of silver for the powders was 25 wt%. After being mixed with epoxy resin and curing agent, silver plating graphite powders conductive adhesive was obtained, with the percolation concentration of 28 vol%. Compared to pure Ag conductive adhesive, the new conductive adhesive has the advantage of low cost. Adhesives based on the graphite or Ag plating graphite powders exhibited higher tensile strength and larger failure elongations than pure Ag conductive adhesive.