Alternating electric field induced agglomeration of carbon black filled resins

This letter reports on our observation that an alternating electric field is able to induce the formation of an electrically conducting network in carbon black (CB) filled resins well below the zero-field percolation threshold. Compared with the recently presented dc method, the ac agglomeration is more efficient in two respects: it proceeds significantly faster under equivalent conditions and is still effective at higher ionic concentration. In contrast to the ramified form of dc-induced CB networks, ac agglomeration favors the formation of parallel CB chains. The experimental results can be explained taking into account ionic conductivities of the matrices as well as charges and field induced dipoles on the CB particles.