Electrical properties of epoxy resin based nano-composites**The start-up funding for the research was provided by the US Department ofEnergy, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, and follow-on fundingwas continued by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD)Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), managed by UT-Battelle, LLCfor the US Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725(D06-100).

Abstract

We investigate the electrical properties of composite materials prepared as nano- andsub-micron-scale metal-oxide particles embedded in a commercial resin. The filler particlesare barium titanate and calcium copper titanate. The physical and structuralcharacteristics of the constituents and the fabricated composites are reported. Electricalcharacterization of the composite samples is performed using time- and frequency-domaindielectric spectroscopy techniques. The electrical breakdown strength of samples withnano- and sub-micron-sized particles have better electrical insulation properties than theunfilled resin.