Rheological properties of epoxidized linseed oil composites with micro-silver flake fillers

Abstract

This thesis represents a comprehensive structure-property investigation of the rheological properties of silver/ELO composite material for different size and shapes of silver particulates. It is important to understand the rheology of conductive inks so that one can predict how the ink will behave in varying composite concentrations, with different sizes of metal particles, and at varying temperatures. Several series of measurements were taken via rheometer and viscometer. First, the effect of silver flake particle size was determined by analyzing five different sizes of silver flake all at the same concentration. Next, the effect of concentration of silver flake in ELO was examined by varying the loading of one size of silver particle. Also, cross-linking behavior was determined on three concentrations of the same silver as the previous experiment. Each cross-linked sample was viewed using scanning electron microscopy to help further understand the variations in cross-linking behavior. Finally, surface modification was performed on silver particulates using thiol-based self-assembled monolayers and the effect of this modification on the rheology of ELO was determined. These measurements together offer a comprehensive understanding of the rheological properties of an ELO/silver flake composite.