Synergistic effect of graphite fillers on electrical and mechanical properties of Co-continuous PVDF/PP composites
Bibliographic record
Abstract
This study explores the development of conductive co-continuous polyvinylidene fluoride/polypropylene/graphite (PVDF/PP/GR) composites with varying PVDF/PP ratios (60:40 and 70:30) to evaluate the effects of single and hybrid GR fillers on composites’ electrical conductivity, morphology, thermal stability, and mechanical properties. The composites were prepared with GR fillers ranging from 20 to 60 wt.% and particle sizes between 5.9 and 564 µm. Morphological analysis using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), supported by selective solvent extraction of the PVDF phase, confirmed a well-developed co-continuous structure at a PVDF/PP ratio of 70:30. Key performance metrics, including through-plane electrical resistivity (inverse of conductivity), thermal degradation, and mechanical strength, were systematically analyzed. The results showed that the addition of 60 wt.% GR reduced melting temperature while improved overall crystallinity and the degradation temperature from 440°C to 480°C, with a corresponding increase in residual ash content from 15 to 70 wt.%. Among the single-filler composites, medium-sized GR particles (17.8 µm) at 60 wt.% in the PVDF/PP (70:30) system exhibited the lowest electrical resistivity (3.41 Ω·cm). Additionally, the incorporation of 60 wt.% hybrid GR fillers, mixture of medium (17.8 µm) and large (561 µm) particles in an 80:20 ratio, further reduced resistivity to 1.17 Ω·cm, showing the synergistic effect of hybrid GR fillers of different sizes. Small GR particles act as bridges between the larger ones, leading to a more electrically conductive GR network. Mechanical testing revealed a flexural modulus ranging from 0.9 to 9.9 GPa and a flexural strength ranging from 7.0 to 26.3 MPa. The compressive elastic modulus varied between 0.1 and 0.2 GPa, while the compressive strength ranged from 7.8 to 22.9 MPa. These results highlight the suitability of PVDF/PP/GR composites as electrically conductive materials, particularly for applications in proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) bipolar plates, as their main properties are in the range aimed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE).
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".