Space charge and dipolar charge contribution at polar polymers polarization

The thermally stimulated discharge current, the final thermally stimulated discharge current, DC conductivity and the final thermally stimulated discharge current with partially blocking electrode measures were used to analyze electrical behavior of Nylon 11. The objective was to discriminate between dipole related effects and space charge related effects. The space charge effects are dominant in the temperature range from room temperature to 170 °C. By using a Teflon-FEP partially blocking electrode, the space charge injected in the sample is diminished and the effects related to dipole movement can be observed. Beside the two known relaxations for Nylon 11, one associated with the glass transition around 60 °C and a second one associated with a molecular motion in the rigid-amorphous phase at 96 °C, a weak relaxation was observed around 168 °C. The peak around 96 °C is quite broad been composed of two narrow peaks. The final thermally stimulated discharge current method allows a better selection of the experimental conditions for sample charging (polarization) to have only a partial overlap between the nearby peaks. The peak´s maximum current and temperature are dependent on the ratio between the charging and discharging time and temperature given a possibility to discriminate between dipolar and space charge effects. A pyroelectric current changes sign around 140 °C indicating that the amidegroup dipoles are frozen in opposite directions when the sample temperature is below 140 °C (amorphous and rigid-amorphous phase) or above (crystalline phase). The conductivity is controlled by the competition between n(E,T) and μ(E,T) indicating a space charge controlled conductivity mechanism.