Increasing the Electrical Values of Polydimethylsiloxaneby the Integration of Carbon Black and Carbon Nanotubes:A Comparison of the Effect of Different Nanoscale Fillers.

The requirements for adhesives and sealants for industrial applications are rising up continuously through the variety of properties which an adhesive joint should contain. At the one hand should the adhesive achieve strong connections between the adherends, should be resistant against environmental conditions, temperature, solvents, and should achieve durable joints without a complex pretreatment. At the other hand are special requirements like electrical conductivity of the adhesive demanded. The electrical conductivity of the adhesive is necessary to create joints for the prevention of explosions by discharging anti-static loads. Conventional adhesives are electrical isolating and not able to solve the anti-static leakage. There are also inquiries for flexible conductive paths, flexible electrode layers for elastic capacitor like dielectric elastomer actuators and much more. A promisingly way to achieve the required electrical conductivity is the integration of carbon allotropes like carbon black (CB) or multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) into the basic polymer which form an electrical conductive network inside the polymer. CB and MWCNTs are different regarding to their geometric values and therefore the behavior at the modification and influencing of the PDMS will be different regarding to the kind particles. As basic polymers may be also usable epoxy, polyurethane, acrylic and thermoplastic based adhesive systems for the modification process.