CONDUCTIVE PLASTICS | TECHNOLOGY
There are a growing number of applications where the insulating properties of plastics are not an advantage. Peter Mapleston looks at the latest options for incorporating electrical conductivity
Taking a charge on plastics
Plastics are, for the most part, excellent electrical insulators and there are countless applications across many markets where that particular property is not only an advantage but is essential. However, there are also many applications that call for other essential features of plastics – their low weight, design flexibility, good physical properties, aesthetics, to name but a few – but that would also gain from some level of electrical conductivity. Applications for electrically conductive plastics include stress-relieving conductive layers for power cables, packaging to prevent sparks when handling electronic components, battery components, touch displays, and novel electrical heating systems. The list is growing longer and, as it does, the capabili- ties of the most traditional way of increasing electrical conductivity – addition of carbon black – are being stretched. As a result, newer solutions are being sought and are gaining in popularity. That is not to write off carbon black, however.
The material offers all sorts of advantages - it delivers performance in a highly cost-effective way and carbon black producers continue to make improvements, as examples later on will show. But not everybody in the market for conductive or
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antistatic plastics materials and end products wants or can accept the colour (or more accurately the lack of it). Others are also interested in conductive additive systems that do not have to be used in such high doses and that, as a consequence, have less effect on mechanical properties. Cleanliness in production may also be an issue, although carbon black producers have made significant progress in this area. So what are the alternative options? Well, to repurpose Henry Ford’s famous words: any additive, as long as it’s carbon.
Nano finds its niche Carbon nanotubes seem to have been talked about for quite some time - in fact, they first became available over 30 years ago. But – even if a little goes a long way – they are still available in relatively limited supply volumes. Capacities are rising and prices have fallen in recent years, and may possibly fall further, but these additives are always likely to be expensive. “A certain sustainabil- ity of the offer side is required if the customers want supply certainty,” is how the head of one major CNT supplier, that did not want to be named, describes the situation.
� February 2018 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 43
Main image: These carbon fibre filled electrically conductive TPU compounds from Premix are hard wearing and can be
supplied in a range of, albeit darker, colours
PHOTO: PREMIX
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