Temperature and electric field effects on the dielectric dispersion of modified polyvinyl chloride

The effect of electric field on the dielectric dispersion of modified polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has been investigated. The applied direct current (DC) field strength was ranging from 0 to 10(4) V cm(-1). The complex permitivity for each treated sample is measured in the frequency range 0-100 kHz. The shapes of the obtained complex plane plots of dielectric constant are semicircles. The data is analyzed to determine how the relaxation time changes with applied field. In addition, the mechanism of ion conduction through PVC is also examined. Moreover, another set of samples was subjected to different temperatures ranging from 300 to 373 K. AC measurements for the tested samples in the same frequency range were done. The analysis show that the activation energy is found to be DeltaE = 0.12 eV. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.