MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF BISMUTH FILLED HIGH DENSITY POLYETHYLENE COMPOSITES

Physics

Effect of bismuth filler on mechanical and electrical properties of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) is described in this study. HDPE composites with different weight percentage of bismuth (0%, 10%, 20% and 40%) were fabricated by using hydraulic press. The mechanical properties like tensile strength, tensile modulus and the elongation at the peak load were studied by using universal testing machine (UTM), impact strength was determined using computerized impact tester and density of the composites were estimated on Archimedes principle. The dispersion of the filler in HDPE was studied using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The density of HDPE has been observed to increase with increase in bismuth concentration. The value of tensile strength and Young’s modulus of HDPE become maximum at 10 wt% of bismuth loading and then decreases at 20 wt% of bismuth with HDPE. However, the slight increase in the tensile strength and Young’s modulus is observed beyond 20 wt% of bismuth with HDPE. The elongation and impact strength decreases with the increase of bismuth concentration in HDPE. The electrical properties like dielectric constant, dielectric loss, AC conductivity and impedance were studied for synthesized composites using LCR meter for the frequency range 100Hz-1MHz. The dielectric constant increases with the increase in weight percentage of bismuth with HDPE and then slightly decreases for higher frequencies. The AC conductivity increases sharply at higher frequencies but is of very low value (10-10Sm-1). The dielectric loss and the impedance decreases with frequency.

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