Effects of particle shape and size distributions on the electrical and magnetic properties of nickel/polyethylene composites

Abstract

AbstractElectrical and magnetic properties of composite materials prepared by incorporating various nickel‐based fillers of different shapes into polyethylene were investigated. The fillers used were nickel powders, nickel filamentary powders, nickel flakes, and nickel‐coated graphite fibers. The particle‐size distributions of the fillers were determined both before and after the processing of the composite samples. A wide range of filler volume fractions were used. In some cases, the volume fraction approached the maximum packing fraction of the solid phase to significantly exceed the percolation threshold. The composite samples were characterized in terms of their volume resistivity, dielectric constant, and magnetic permeability values. Filler particles of asymmetric shapes were very effective in terms of altering the electrical properties of the composite samples. At the highest loading levels of the nickel fillers, the volume resistivity values of the composites decreased by more than 17 orders of magnitude. At such high filler concentrations, the dielectric constant values of the composite samples increased considerably, to values that were greater than 1000. The permeability values of the samples increased linearly with the volume fraction of the nickel filler and were insensitive to the shape of the fillers. The highest relative permeability value measured was 5.8 for composites with 67% by volume of nickel powder. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.