Preparation, microstructure and properties of polyethylene aluminum nanocomposite dielectrics

Linear low density polyethylene (PE) aluminum (Al) nanocomposites were prepared and their morphology and properties were investigated. The particular attention was given to the structure/property relationship of the nanocomposites and an equivalent electric circuit model was proposed to interpret the dependences of the dielectric behaviors of the PE/Al nanocomposites on the nanoparticle concentration and the measuring frequency. The increase of the dielectric constant shows the effectiveness of Al nanoparticles in altering the intrinsic dielectric properties of PE. The microstructure transition revealed by morphological investigations has been also verified at the same composition as that from the rheological data. And also, it has been found that the nanocomposites at high filler concentrations still keep good mechanical properties and breakdown strength, which is very important for practical applications.