Electrical conductivity recovery in carbon nanotube-polymer composites after transient shear

Investigations on electric conductivity have been performed on polycarbonate (PC) containing 0.6 vol% of multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) in a rheometer, where the plates act as capacitor plates for dielectric spectroscopy. The time dependent recovery of the DC‐conductivity was recorded in the rest time after a transient shear deformation. The DC‐conductivity shows a tremendous increase with the time after shearing. This conductivity recovery is explained by the reorganization of the conducting MWNT‐network, which was destroyed by the shear. The reformation kinetics of MWNT‐clusters is considered as a cooperative cluster‐cluster aggregation coupled to electrical percolation of conductive MWNT. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)