Pinewood biochar antistatic polymer composites: an investigation of electrical, mechanical, rheological and thermal properties

Abstract

This study investigates the practical applications of biochar as an innovative and sustainable conductive filler in composite materials. Utilizing the conventional melt-blending method, we prepared conductive pinewood biochar-filled poly(lactic acid)/poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PLA/PBAT) composites and systematically examined their electrical, mechanical, rheological and thermal properties. Our results reveal a significant enhancement of electrical and mechanical properties upon the inclusion of conductive pinewood biochar in the PLA/PBAT matrix. With the addition of 10 wt% of conductive pinewood biochar, the average surface resistivity of the composites decreased by three orders of magnitude, measuring [Formula: see text], which meets the antistatic requirements for polymer composites. Additionally, the average tensile strength of the biochar filler composites improved by 53% with an addition of just 1 wt% of biochar.

Keywords

• Biochar
• pyrolysis
• melt-blending
• polymer composites
• antistatic