Enhancing the permittivity, thermal conductivity and mechanical strength of elastomer composites by using surface modified BaTiO3 nanoparticles

The development of devices for electric stress control includes several significant challenges for polymer composite dielectrics, including the need for high permittivity, high mechanical strength, high thermal conductivity, good dielectric strength, and good ductility. However, the conventional methods to increase the permittivity of a polymer suffer from very low mechanical and dielectric strength. The present experimental investigation shows our results about the influence of the surface modified BaTiO₃ nanoparticles on the permittivity, thermal conductivity and micromechanical properties of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVM) vulcanizates. It was found that the incorporation of surface modified BaTiO₃ nanoparticles into the EVM matrix increased the permittivity, thermal conductivity and the mechanical strength. In particular, the nanocomposites exhibit good dielectric strength and good ductility even at the loading level of 50 vol%.