Electrical and thermal properties of stainless steel fibers and carbon nanotubes reinforced polyamide-6

Electrical, thermal and mechanical properties of conductive polymer composites were investigated in the present work. The composites were polyamide-6 (PA6)/stainless steel fibre (SSF) (PA6 matrix filled by SSFs) and PA6/SSF/CNT (PA6 matrix filled by SSFs and carbon nanotubes) systems. The distribution of fillers in the composites was observed by scanning electron microscopy. The relation between the resistivity of the composites and the mass fraction of fillers was determined, and the conductive percolation threshold value was approximately evaluated according to the sudden dropping of the resistivity. Thermal and mechanical properties of the composites were investigated by means of dynamic mechanical analysis, thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimeter analysis.