
Conductive plastics fall into two categories. Conductive plastics made by physical methods are called composite conductive plastics, and conductive plastics made by chemical methods are called internal (also known as engineering) conductive plastics.
Plastic has long been used as an insulating material due to its high insulating properties. However, as technologies such as electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and microwave absorption gain more and more attention from people, demands are placed on electrical conductivity of plastics in related applications. Over past ten years, countries around world have conducted extensive research in this area, striving to introduce a new generation of plastic materials that can not only maintain inherent advantages of plastics, but also endow them with new conductive properties.
(1) Definition of conductive plasticConductive plastic is a functional polymer material that is mixed with resin and a conductive material and processed by traditional plastic processing methods.
(2) Classification of conductive plasticsConductive plastics fall into two categories. Conductive plastics made by physical methods are called composite conductive plastics, and conductive plastics made by chemical methods are called internal (also known as engineering) conductive plastics.
Product classification and division Main application Electromagnetic shielding plastic composite type 1 Filling type: filled with copper, nickel and other metal powders, stainless steel fibers, carbon fibers, copper fibers, nickel-plated carbon fibers, etc. Electromagnetic shielding
Antistatic
Internal Synthetic Type: Intrinsically Conducting Polymer (ICPS) with conjugated π-electron system such as polyaniline, polyacetylene, polypyrrole, etc.
1 Note. Currently, 90% of conductive plastics are composite types
(1) Conductive plastics refer to plastics that are conductive on their own or after chemical modification. They play a role in their chemical structure, making them conductive in nature and then doping them chemically to increase their conductivity. For example, conductivity of doped polyacetylene is 4 times that of copper, which is currently best conductive material at room temperature. The advantage is that conductivity is uniform throughout material, and conductive state is easy to quickly control; disadvantage is that it is expensive, difficult to process and has poor chemical stability, so scope is limited. Plastics with intrinsic conductivity are mainly used as electrodes and materials.in solid electrolyte for various secondary batteries due to their light weight, high energy density and good voltage characteristics.
(2) Composite conductive plastics refers to plastics with electrical conductivity after physical modification, usually made by mixing conductive substances such as carbon black, carbon fiber, graphite, metal powder, metal fiber, etc., with resin. At present, technology is very mature and widely used.
(3) Conductive plastic production process
Basic knowledge and prospects for use of conductive plastics
(4) Some areas of application of conductive plasticsTheoretically, most known plastics can be used as matrix materials for conductive plastics, and there are many types of suitable conductive fillers. Conductive plastics can have properties similar to conductivity of metal while maintaining inherent properties of plastics. Now they can be used in almost every new industry, especially in production of semiconductors for optical communication, superconducting materials, integrated circuits, automotive electronics, electrical engineering and other fields. takes a very important place.
At present, conductive plastics, self-regulating temperature heating materials, antistatic materials, electromagnetic shielding materials, conductive films and other products are widely used. With gradual deepening of theoretical research in field of conductive plastics, conductive plastic products are constantly being introduced, and their performance is constantly reaching new heights, and their field of application is constantly being developed and expanded by people. This article mainly introduces application of conductive plastics from following aspects.
(1) Antistatic
Plastic insulation prevents release of electrostatic charge accumulated on surface of plastic products, and then generates a static voltage that easily absorbs dirt such as dust. When static voltage reaches a certain level, an electrostatic discharge will occur and an electric shock will occur. In electronics industry, all kinds of precision tools and precision electronic components will be damaged or even scrapped due to electrostatic breakdown, resulting in more serious consequences and significant economic loss. For example, accumulation of static electricity in plastic gas pipes in coal mines can lead to coal mine explosions; plastic parts in oil tankers can cause oil fires due to static electricity; due to static electricity, accidents often occur during production of plastic films. Therefore, antistatic requirements are imposed on housings and structural parts of electrical products used in coal mines, oil tankers, oil fields, dust and combustible gases.

Basic knowledge and prospects for use of conductive plastics
(2) Electromagnetic shielding
Semiconductive shielding materials used in EMI shielding of electrical products in field of communications, computers, automation systems, industrial electronics, consumer electronics and automotive electronics, as well as medium and high voltage cables.

Basic knowledge and prospects for use of conductive plastics

(3) Conductive ground
Carbon fiber conductive plastic is used as a complex material for through-ground protection, which replaces original lead sheath in accordance with railway grounding requirements. It has high strength and modulus, low resistivity, excellent electrical conductivity, good electromagnetic shielding effect, good corrosion resistance, no soil and groundwater pollution, and good environmental protection.
(5) Conductive plastics brochureWith rapid development of high technology, field of application of conductive plastics continues to expand. In addition to widely used fields, conductive plastics have important promise in solar cells, plastic chips, display devices, nanowires, robots, and life sciences.
Potentiometer made of conductive plastic. Since main material of conductive plastic potentiometer is plastic and carbon powder, it is produced by injection molding. Compared with traditional wire wound potentiometer, it has smooth output, fast response, high wear resistance and long service life. service life Small frictional moment and so on. In addition, improvements in key technologies such as resistor preparation and in-line repair have laid a solid foundation for high-precision, high-volume production of plastic potentiometers.
Plastic solar cells, also called organic cells, use polymers instead of silicon to convert sunlight into electricity, which can reduce cost and weight of solar cells and make them flexible, but conversion efficiency of plastic solar cells is only about 10% (below than 15-20% of efficiency of commercial silicon solar cells). Currently, conversion efficiency has been improved by addition of a solvent. In 2018, Nankai University, China, Professor Chen Yongsheng's group developed and prepared multilayer organic solar cell materials and devices with high efficiency and a wide range of absorption characteristics, which achieved a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 17.3%, which once again upgraded organic/polymer solar energy , which has been reported in literature. A world record for efficiency of photoelectric conversion of a battery.
Plastic chip. Back in 2016, a group of foreign scientists transplanted a high-performance magnetic memory chip onto a flexible plastic surface without compromising its performance. The resulting transparent, film-like, flexible "smart plastic" chip is excellent at storing data. and computing power, it is first plastic flexible magnetic memory chip.
Display devices such as polymer light emitting diodes have been used in many monochrome displaysmobile phone plays and other display devices. The Japanese corporation Pioneer has developed a new type of light-emitting display based on principle of electroluminescence of conductive plastic, use of which increases speed of switching between images on display. In addition, conductive plastics have excellent ductility, which makes it possible to manufacture some special devices, such as folding or curved TV screens.
Nanowires are nanotechnology-derived conductive polymeric materials with a fine structure and good conductivity that can be used in molecular chains, molecular wires, and some molecular-level components.
Robots and biomedical sciences. Japanese scientists have discovered that conductive plastics can be used to make artificial skin and artificial muscles. This skin can be used on robots to make muscles of manufactured robots more elastic. This is controlled by electrochemical methods. Conductive plastic artificial muscles that can contract and expand much like real muscles. In addition, scientists have found that human body also has a certain degree of conductivity, so if conductive plastics are combined with DNA, it can help change DNA. Considering importance of life science research, this may be the most important application of conductive plastics.
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