Investigation of suitable quantitative indices for the evaluation of additive dispersion in a material matrix using Monte-Carlo simulation

Three kinds of quantitative indices, i.e. the degree of mixedness, an area- based criterion and the box-counting fractal dimension, have been investiga ted to find out their suitability for evaluating the degree of dispersion o f single additives in compounded material. The Monte-Carlo technique is use d to simulate various ideal and non-ideal cases of dispersion in single-add itive systems. It has been found that the value of both the area-based crit erion and box-counting fractal dimension are essentially independent of the particle size of the additive, so they are suitable quantitative indices f or evaluating the degree of dispersion of single-additive systems. The inve stigation also shows how the fractal dimension can be used to characterize and interpret the degree of dispersion of a pigment in a polymer matrix obt ained experimentally.