Improved flexible, controlled dielectric constant material from recycled LDPE polymer composites

Abstract

In this study, recycled low density polyethylene (RLDPE) is developed with the addition of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) to have new polymer composites. The following wt% were used of the filler (1, 4 and 6 wt%). Tensile properties, Hardness, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) thermo gravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and dielectric properties were studied for these composites. 4 wt% Al2O3/RLDPE composites showed the optimum values of 15.52, 180.8 and 59.72 MPa for the tensile strength, tensile modulus and hardness were reported. Increasing the filler % decreased the mechanical properties of the composites due to agglomeration and poor surface contact with the polymer matrix. This is confirmed by SEM studies. Al2O3 filler increased the melting and crystallization temperature of RLDPE. Furthermore, it showed that Al2O3 filler improved the thermal stability of RLDPE with increasing the % of filler. Relative permittivity, dielectric loss factor and AC electrical conductivity were increased with increasing the amount of the AL2O3. The relative permittivity reached a value of 4.9 at 1 kHz frequency, which is a good value for a flexible composite prepared from recycled material and it can be used in electrical devices and electronic packaging.