Effect of Copper/Graphite Addition on Electrical Conductivity and Thermal Insulation of Unsaturated Polyester/Jute Composites

摘要

Jute fibre along with Cu particle reinforced unsaturated polyester composites having different filler loading viz. 2, 5, 10 and 15 wt% were fabricated by compression molding technique. In present investigation, it was observed that with fillers (Jute and Cu) incorporation, the electrical conductivity was monotonically increased up to 10 wt% of filler content followed by saturation at 15 wt% of filler content. It was further observed that along with fillers (Jute and Cu) incorporation, the thermal insulation was decreased monotonically up to 10 wt% of filler content and achieved a saturation at 15 wt% of filler content. A similar trend was observed with the variation of electrical conductivity and thermal insulation after incorporation of graphite within copper reinforced UP/Jute composites. Structural investigation through SEM, XRD and FTIR confirm the dispersion of fillers. An improvement of crystallinity of the matrix with fillers addition was observed from XRD analyses. The interfacial bonding between fillers and matrix was studied from FTIR pattern.