Influence of electro-beam irradiation on PTC/NTC behaviors of carbon blacks/HDPE conducting polymer composites

In this study, the influence of electro-beam (EB) irradiation on electrical properties of carbon blacks (CBs)-filled high-density polyethylene (HDPE) conducting polymer composites was investigated in a dosage of 30–150 kGy. From the experimental results, the room temperature resistivity and positive temperature coefficient (PTC) intensity of the conducting polymer composites were dependent, to a large extent, on the CB content that were controlled in the relative arrangements of the CB aggregates in a polymeric matrix. And the negative temperature coefficient (NTC) behavior of the conducting polymer composites was disappeared from a dosage of 60 kGy. It was also found that the EB irradiation led to an improvement of electrical reproducibility of the conducting polymer composites, which was probably due to the reduction of free movement of CB particles at above the melting temperature of HDPE polymer crystalline regions, resulting from increasing the crosslinking structure of CBs/HDPE conducting polymer composites.