Study of dielectric properties of particulate blends

The effect of the addition of high abrasion furnace (HAF) black on the diel ectric properties of poly (ethylene-propylene-diene monomer) EPDM, polyethy lene (PE) blend using both sulphur and peroxide vulcanizing systems was stu died. It was observed that the increase in the permittivity is more pronoun ced with HAF black in the case of sulphur system than for the peroxide one. Many theories have been tested to calculate the effective permittivity of these particulate blends. The observed values of the permittivities are in close agreement with those calculated by Tsangaris's model, taking into acc ount the variation of the aspect ratio (a/b) of the HAF black with the volu me fraction of the HAF black in the matrix and type of the vulcanizing syst em. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.