Carbon Mesophase/Carbon Nanotubes Nanocomposite - Functional Filler for Conductive Pastes

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have attracted much attention from the researches worldwide, because they show superior physical and electrical potentials, which allow them to be applied in a large field of technologies. In recent years, studies into the practical applications of CNT have focused on polymeric composite for electronic packaging. This paper present the results of our researches for obtaining of conductive pastes based on carbon mesophase/carbon nanotubes nanocomposites like functional filler in a polymeric matrix. The nanocomposites were obtained by adding of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) or multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) in a petroleum pitch. It was reported that SWNT behave as either a metal or a semiconductor depending on the wrapping angle of the graphene sheet and its diameter, while MWNT are always conductive. Carbonic functional phase, obtained by heat treatment of pitch/nanotubes mixtures at 900°C temperatures, was structural characterized by optical microscopy, SEM, X-ray Diffraction and functional by electrical resistivity measurements. Polymeric composites were obtained by adding carbonic functional phase in an epoxy resin matrix. These were characterized to establish the electrical percolation threshold.