TAGS: Polymer Reinforcement Surface Modification
Rising demand for high-performance materials, together with a growing number of industries affected by new standards, compel the cable industry to take an innovative approach. Graphene nanotubes from OCSiAl have proven themselves as a comprehensive solution for rubber cable parts.
Long, flexible, highly conductive, and strong, nanotubes create conductive reinforcing networks inside rubber that provide electrical conductivity and improve mechanical properties at ultra-low dosages, starting from 0.15 wt.%.
Graphene Nanotubes Enhance Tensile Strength
For the anti-static EPDM compounds used for cable connectors, bushings, and jacketing,
graphene nanotubes also enhance the production process. The addition of graphene nanotubes at a loading of just 0.15–0.2% provides electrical resistivity below 10^6 Ohm/sq (which is stable during a product’s service life), low hardness, and improved tear and tensile strength.
The use of nanotubes to obtain conductive compounds with a stable electrical resistance below 50 Ohms, as required for a semi-conductive cable layer, allows producers to remove a large portion of carbon black, decreasing the overall conductive filler loading in rubber by 60%.
The low amount of nanotube additive in paste form allows makers to avoid high-dust manufacturing, reduces viscosity, and improves extrusion rates, along with lowering the impact on hardness and elasticity.
Scale-up tests by a European cable component manufacturer have proven the stable performance of nanotube compounds, without carbon to the surface after the extrusion process. Moreover, graphene nanotubes allow rubber cable elements to benefit from a previously impossible combination of stable anti-static properties and an opportunity for coloration.
Providing a combination of previously unachievable properties, graphene nanotubes open opportunities for enhanced cable parts with more durable and stable performance to meet new industry standards.
Explore OCSiAl's Carbon Nanotubes Range
Source: OCSiAl