Dielectric and thermal properties of thermoplastic elastomer gels in the presence of nanographite

• Published in: e-Polymers 2011-12, Vol.11 (1), p.657-666
• Main Authors: Paglicawan, Marissa A., Kim, Jin Kuk
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2197-4586; 1618-7229; 1618-7229
• DOI: 10.1515/epoly.2011.11.1.657

In this work, the effect of different nanographite such as expandable graphite (EG) and exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets (xGnP) on the electrical and thermal properties of nanocomposite thermoplastic elastomer gels prepared from a poly(styrene-b-(ethylene-co-butylene)-b-styrene) (SEBS) imbibed with an EBcompatible paraffin oil was investigated. The electrical properties have been studied as a function of variation of nanoparticles in the frequency range of 5 to 10 Hz. For all the nanoparticles studied, the dielectric constant increases as the volume content of the nanoparticles in the TPE gels increases. The increase in dielectric constant was fairly smooth with no clear dielectric singularity in the concentration range studied. However, the percolation threshold in the dielectric spectra was clearly seen. The incorporation of a small quantity of nanographite improved the thermal stability of the swollen midblock of TPEGS, since the particles dispersed in this region, thereby increasing the distinct region of oil degradation temperature but no improvement on SEBS matrix. The results showed that size, shape and agglomeration of the particles with high amount of oil in SEBS system played a role in the dielectric properties and thermal stability.