Functional properties of hybrid MWCNT-Ag filled epoxy electrically conductive adhesive

This paper evaluates the effect of hybridizing silver flakes with varying filler loading of multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) to achieve good functional properties of the electrically conductive adhesive (ECA) with reduced amount of silver. Here, hybrid electrically conductive adhesive filled with 5 wt. % of silver flakes (Ag) and varying filler loading of the MWCNT were formulated using a centrifugal mixer and characterized in terms of the sheet resistance and lap shear test. The experimental results suggest that increasing MWCNT filler loading results in a decrease in the hybrid ECA sheet resistance, up to 7 wt. %, that is higher in electrical conductivity as compared with the normal ECA system. Nonetheless, the lap shear strength decreased with increasing MWCNT filler loading, since less amount of epoxy matrix is present in the hybrid ECA, hence result in inferior mechanical strength.