Resistivity Relaxation of Anisotropic Conductive Polymer Composites

The electrical properties of anisotropic carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/polycarbonate (PC)/ polyethylene (PE) (ACPC) strongly depended on the CNTs' concentration. When the ACPC was subjected to isothermal treatment (IT), the resistivity variation in both the parallel and perpendicular directions had the characteristics of a relaxation as a function of temperature. During the IT the orientation of the PC microfibrils was gradually damaged and CNTs/PC microfibrils were deformed and changed to short fibers, leading to a transition from anisotropy to isotropy. The velocity of the conductive network reconstruction could be characterized by the relaxation time, and the resistivity of the composite during the IT process can be instantaneously predicted based on the relaxation equation. The relaxation time and the equilibrium resistivity of the composite during IT were determined by the IT temperature and CNT content.