Conductive polymer composite PET film with excellent antistatic properties

Abstract

AbstractThere have been few applications of conductive polymers as antistatic agents for poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) films for packaging, since they lack formability and transparency. A new antistatic film has been developed by coating PET with an alcohol-water solution containing a water soluble conductive polymer, sulphonated polyaniline (SPAn), and a water soluble or water dispersible polymer, which acts as a binder. It was found that this combination gave excellent antistatic properties. The SPAn antistatic polymer (ASP) composite PET films have special characteristics, such as good transparency, excellent antistatic properties (surface resistivity R s=106-1010 Omega) at low humidity (15%RH), and good resistance to heat, water, and ammonia. In addition, ASP-PET films have a high capacity to retain their R s values after drawing to a draw ratio of 3. Such characteristics of ASP-PET are ascribed not only to the fundamental properties of SPAn and the polyester binder, but also the affinity of the two polymers, which appears to result in the effective formation of a conductive network of SPAn within the polyester binder.