Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 30, 23-31 (2005)
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjap:2005006

Numerical analysis of steric influence on conductivity percolation threshold

Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Corresponding author: Milan.ambrozic@ijs.si

Received: 13 July 2004
Accepted: 25 October 2004
Published online: 28 January 2005

Abstract

We have investigated the influence of the steric properties of conducting particles in a nonconducting host matrix on the conductivity threshold of the material, i.e., the minimum volume fraction of conducting phase for the whole sample to become conducting. A statistical, numerical method is used in which the particles are randomly put, one by one, into the nonconducting host and the conducting path is searched. The particles are allowed to penetrate each other to some extent. Three different types of particle shapes are considered: spherical, cylindrical with rounded ends and asymmetric cuboids with rounded surfaces. We have found that in addition to the anisotropy in the particles' dimensions, the angular distribution of the particles' long axes plays a dominant role in the calculations of the conductivity percolation threshold.