A new tool for investigating the electrical structure of carbon black filled polymers

Abstract

We have reported the first use of the Resiscope associated to an atomic force microscope (AFM) for investigating composite materials comprising an insulating matrix and conducting particles. For the first time we have been able to visualise the "conducting paths" through the materials which have long been supposed to exist in such heterogeneous materials. A systematic characterisation of their three dimensional electrical mesostructure including the sample thickness as an independent variable is now possible with this new instrument.