Simulation and modeling of polyethylene/clay nanocomposite for dielectric application

Abstract

In this paper, the simulation and modeling of a polyethylene/clay nanocomposite were undertaken to predict the nanocomposite’s dielectric behavior and to help design a nanocomposite material with optimum electrical properties for electrotechnical or electronic applications. A 3-D simulation model using the finite elements method was employed in order to study the effective permittivity and electric field distribution of two-phase nanocomposite materials for ordered and random distributions of inclusions in a low-loss host matrix such as polyethylene. The influence of the dispersion of reinforcing particles, and of the permittivity and radius of the inclusions, was analysed. The simulation results were compared with alternative, known theoretical solutions obtained from classical models, and were found to be in good agreement. The numerical results also indicate that for fixed volume fractions of nanoparticles the effective permittivity of the mixture, for ordered and random distributions, does not vary with the degree of dispersion. The variation of the effective permittivity with the particle radius is shown, using numerical data, to agree with the analytical modules.