Abstract
The dielectric effect, investigated using dielectric spectroscopy and DC dielectric breakdown strength measurements, of introducing xylene into a composite system containing polyethylene, a co-polymer of ethylene and vinyl acetate and an organoclay can be understood in light of X-ray diffraction data. In dielectric spectroscopy, although organoclay alone changes the dielectric response of the polymer blend and xylene has no effect on the unfilled polymer blend, when both xylene and organoclay are present, a synergistic response is revealed at the 1 Vrms amplitude voltage used to acquire the dielectric data. In contrast to this, in DC, dielectric breakdown strength measurements revealed that, under high field conditions, both the xylene and organoclay, independently, caused a decreased breakdown strength. This work was undertaken in order to examine the generality of the possible effects of labile, low molar mass impurities on electrical properties of comparable systems, which may be processed through solvent-based routes.
Highlights
Nanocomposites have attracted much attention as a consequence of the desirable combination of properties that such systems may exhibit
Fabiani et al [5] investigated the effect of water on organoclayethylene/vinyl acetate (EVA) nanocomposites and found that the nature of the organoclay was significant in influencing the considered electrical properties, which included dielectric relaxation, direct current (DC) conduction and DC breakdown strength
Given that xylene is chemically comparable to toluene, which has been used elsewhere as a solvent etchant for EVA [14], it is plausible that xylene could remove some fraction of the EVA
Summary
Nanocomposites have attracted much attention as a consequence of the desirable combination of properties that such systems may exhibit. Fabiani et al [5] investigated the effect of water on organoclayethylene/vinyl acetate (EVA) nanocomposites and found that the nature of the organoclay was significant in influencing the considered electrical properties, which included dielectric relaxation, DC conduction and DC breakdown strength. Overall, such findings have provided a better understanding of how the materials will perform in-situ for their respective applications and, in particular, have demonstrated that the presence of small quantities of water – which can be considered as a labile polar impurity – can markedly affect the properties of nanocomposites. We seek to extend this work to examine the effects of xylene on a PE-EVA-organoclay nanocomposite, in order to establish whether the results seen in the aforementioned study are principles that can be applied to other material systems or, rather, are material specific and determined by factors such as the precise phase structure of the matrix or the dispersion of the nanofiller
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