Impact of peanut shells, olive pomace, and plaster on the dielectric properties of PA6

Abstract

Polyamide 6 (PA6) is among the most widely used technical polymers due to its excellent balance between performance and cost. The diversity of its applications reflects its main qualities (good mechanical properties, thermal stability, resistance to many solvents and bases, etc.). PA6 is often used as an electrical insulator, and in this study, we have shown that we can keep this property by using Plaster (PL) as reinforcement, just as we can by incorporating bio-reinforcements including peanut shell powder (PSP) or olive pomace powder (OPP) to modify this behavior. This was achieved by studying the electrical and dielectric properties of PA6 and PA6/PSP, PA6/OPP, and PA6/PL composites using impedance spectroscopy in the glass transition region ranging from 20°C to 50°C in a range frequency 1Hz - 1MHz. The results show that the PA6/PSP and PA6/OPP composites exhibited low resistance; therefore, very good electrical conductivity was recorded. However, PA6/PL inherits almost the same characteristics as PA6. The present study asserts that the presence of charges in the composite's interfacial region greatly influences the electrical and dielectric behavior and that this behavior is strongly affected near the Tg.

Keywords

• Polyamide 6
• impedance spectroscopy
• composite
• conductivity
• natural reinforcements