Development of reinforced polyester/graphene nanocomposite showing tailored electrical conductivity

Production process was chosen in order to be readily scalable at the industrial level. The resin/graphene mixture was prepared through high shear mixing at six different weight concentrations between 0% and 10%. Samples were subsequently produced by compression molding. The electrical properties were measured both in-the-plane and across-the-plane using, respectively, a four-point probe and a two-electrode system. The two-electrode system was a dielectric spectrometer, and accordingly, the across-the-plane measurements were conducted in the frequency-domain. Mechanical measurements were conducted using conventional three-point bending and impact setups. The percolation threshold was found to be in the range of 3–5 wt.% concentration, for which the conductivity showed a 7 orders of magnitude increase. These results were quite similar to the samples containing around 50 wt.% of glass fibers. Surprisingly, the in-the-plane conductivity was found to be lower than the bulk conductivity, contrary to what was found with the same filler for thermoplastic composites prepared by melt compounding. No significant increase in mechanical properties as a function of filler loading was observed, except maybe a slight increase in the material toughness.