Fabrication of highly ordered polymer/graphite flake composite with eminent anisotropic electrical property

Abstract

Abstract Highly ordered polyester/graphite flake composite has been fabricated via orienting the graphite flakes within a polymer matrix. The randomly dispersed graphite flakes in a polyester prepolymer were induced twice along the electric field direction, followed by the cross‐linking of the prepolymer. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that the graphite flakes in the resulting composites were aligned parallel to each other. This structure anisotropy of the composite appeared to be a significant electrical anisotropic property with five to six orders of magnitude. Analysis showed that field‐induced torque caused by the polarization of graphite flakes undergone at electric field was a main force inducing the orientation of the graphite flakes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.