Abstract
The effects of different factors on the electrical properties of a well-bonded metal/PET composite during tensile deformation were systematically analyzed, including metal materials, metal coating film thickness and environmental temperature. It was found that, before a crack appearance in the coated metal film, the critical elongation of a well-bonded metal/PET composite depended on the differences of modulus and Poisson's ratio between the coated metal material and PET substrate. After cracking, the metal/PET composites with different metal films showed different elongations when there was a sudden increase in the resistance of the metal/PET composite; the thicker the metal film deposited on PET substrate was, the lower resistance the metal/PET composite had. The thickness of metal film had no obvious effect on the critical elongation of the metal/PET composites. In addition, the resistance of the metal/PET composite increased with the increasing environmental temperature.