TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENCE OF THE INTERFACIAL DIELECTRIC LOSS PROCESS IN GLASS BEAD-FILLED POLYETHYLENE

The temperature dependence of the interfacial dielectric loss process in glass bead-filled high density polyethylene (HDPE) due to an interfacially adsorbed water layer has been studied. The frequency of maximum dielectric loss shifts to lower frequencies with decreasing temperature. This is thought to be due to decreasing mobility of the free charge carriers in the adsorbed water layer, resulting in the reduced conductivity of the layer. The shifting of the loss peaks with temperature can be described with the well-known Arrhenius relation. The energy of activation, as obtained from this relation, shows a strong dependence on the thickness of the adsorbed layer. For thinner layers a higher activation energy is found, indicating that the charge carriers are increasingly affected by the presence of a layer of bound charges on the glass surface. This thickness dependence of the activation energy offers some possible applications. First, information on the water layer thickness can be extracted from the energy of activation, and second, it becomes possible to study the effect of interfacial modifications such as the application of coupling agents.