DC conductivity of low density polyethylene containing TiO2

The conductivities of LDPE (low-density polyethylene) and LDPE plus 1 wt.% TiO₂ are compared. It is shown that the composite has a higher conductivity and that the temperature dependence of its conductivity is not described by an Arrhenius equation. A comparison of the temperature dependence at the measured current density in samples which have different thermal histories and different exposures to silicone oil shows that the shape of the log current density versus 100/ t curve is undoubled due to the presence of the TiO₂ and is not the result of the presence of silicone oil or of morphological differences between filled and unfilled LDPE. The results of measurements of both the field dependence and the temperature dependence suggest that the conductivity may be represented as the product of a function of temperature and a function of field strength