CARBONACEOUS FILLER INCORPORATION IN IMIDAZOLIUM-BASED IONOMER COMPOSITES

Abstract

Three carbonaceous fillers were compounded into an elastomeric ionomer and assessed using dynamic mechanical analysis, static tensile analysis, and electrical conductivity. Carbon black, flaked graphite and an expanded graphite product, MesografTM, produced by Grafoid Inc. were mixed into the elastomer in different loadings to evaluate their potential to reinforce the material and affect the dynamics and yields of peroxide cure chemistry. In an attempt to produce an unconventional distribution of filler in the polymer matrix, artificial latexes where prepared with the elastomer comprising the dispersed phase in a continuous phase of water. The addition of filler to these emulsions confined it to the aqueous phase and polymer/water interface, with none entering the polymer phase. Drying the resulting emulsions produced composites with filler located in a segregated network. Analysis of these composites by mechanical and conductivity show differences between this non-uniform filler distribution and the uniform distributions produced by conventional rubber compounding approaches.