Development of electrically conductive nano bamboo charcoal/ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene composites with a segregated network

Electrically conductive nano bamboo charcoal (NBC)/ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) composites with a segregated structure were prepared by the high-speed mechanical mixing and hot-pressing method. Instead of uniform dispersion in polymer matrix, NBC distributed along specific paths and formed a segregated conductive network, which resulted in a low electrical percolation threshold (2.0 vol%) of the composites. The composite with 7 vol% NBC possessed a conductivity of 1.1 × 10−2 S/cm, which is adequate for many electrical applications. With the incorporation of NBC, the tensile strength of the segregated composites first increased by 10% with 3 wt% NBC content as compared with neat UHMWPE and then decreased with increasing filler content. Moreover, the thermal stability of NBC/UHMWPE composites was also improved as the loading of NBC increased.