Effects of Electron Beam on Irradiated Polyimide/Polyaniline Composites
In this study, the composites prepared from polyimide (PI) and polyaniline (PANI) were radiated with electron beam (EB) at the radiation doses of 0, 50, 150, 200, and 300 kGy. The electrical conductivity and thermal properties of the radiated composites were determined and compared with those of the composites doped with 6M HCl. The results revealed that the electrical conductivity was enhanced from 3.42 x 10-16 S/cm (untreated polyimide without polyaniline) to 6.97 x 10-5 S/cm when the PI/PANI composite was doped with HCl at 10 phr of PANI; furthermore, the conductivity was increased to 2.16 x 10-4 S/cm for the composite at 10 phr of PANI with radiation dose of 200 kGy. In addition, it was found that the glass transition temperature of the composite was increased with the increase of PANI content for either EB radiation method or protonic acid doping method. It could be noted that the electrical conductivity values of the radiated composites were higher than those of composites doped with HCl at the same PANI content.