Investigation of Electrically Conductive Structural Adhesives using Nickel Nanostrands

Several conductive nanomaterials are investigated for structural electrically conductive adhesive applications, including carbon nanofibers and nickel nanostrands. The suitability of nanostrands as a conductive filler is reviewed. Adhesive formulations based on Hysol 9396 epoxy are tested for electrical and structural properties. Several formulations are found to be capable of providing enhanced adhesive strength while affording excellent electrical conductivity. The development of full strength structural conductive adhesives can enable a wide range of applications where the strength of current commercially available electrically conductive adhesive systems is a limiting factor. Superior conductivity results are obtained by the nickel nanomaterials, with milliohm gap resistance and resistivity on the order of 10(-2) Omega cm possible at loading of 5 vol%. Initial results indicate that these systems present good survivability in thermal cycling conditions. (C) Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2011