Electrical and Mechanical Properties of Antistatic Poly(vinyl chloride) Composites Filled with Silver Plated Hollow Glass Microspheres

Abstract Antistatic poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) composites filled with silver plated hollow glass microspheres (Ag-HGMs) were prepared using the melt-mixing method. Electrical resistivity and mechanical properties of the Ag-HGMs/PVC composites were subsequently investigated. The results show that the HGMs were successfully coated with a uniform and compact silver layer. With increasing Ag-HGMs content, the volume resistivity of Ag-HGMs/PVC composites decreases nonlinearly. With an Ag-HGMs content of about 120 phr, reaching the percolation concentration, the composites meet the antistatic requirements for commercial antistatic PVC materials. Furthermore, the tensile strength of Ag-HGMs/PVC composites decreases with increasing content of Ag-HGMs, while the impact strength increases with increasing content of Ag-HGMs from 0 phr to 150 phr. We especially found that, with a Ag-HGMs content of 20 phr, Ag-HGMs/PVC composites exhibit great impact strength.