Study of the mechanical properties and structure of the “silver – polyethylene terephthalate” composite

Samples of the “silver – polymer” composite were obtained by the matrix synthesis method. Track membranes made of polyethylene terephthalate with pores of different diameters and with different concentrations were used as a matrix. The matrix pores were filled by electrochemical deposition. The structure and mechanical properties of this composite, which is a porous polymer matrix with nano- and microwires of silver deposited into pores, have been studied. Mechanical properties were determined experimentally by stretching the samples. Using the method of scanning electron microscopy, it was found that the length of nano- and microwires filling the pores of the PET matrix is not the same in the same sample, while frequent mutual intersection of the wires was observed, the concentrations of nano- and microwires were determined from SEM microimages. The crossing probability and the number of crossing nano- and microwires were calculated using a previously developed technique based on the single bond method. It is shown that the mechanical properties of the metal-polymer composite are significantly affected by the number of wire intersections and, at the same concentration of wires, their diameter.