Electrical and Chemical Properties of Mica/Epoxy Composite Materials as Affected by Short-Time Aging

Electrical and Chemical Properties of Mica/Epoxy Composite Materials as Affected by Short-Time Aging

Electrical properties such as permittivity and tan$\delta$ of unaged (control) and aged (72 h at 18$0^{\circ}C$) mica/epoxy composites of 130 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ thickness were measured and their surface conditions were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Both permittivity and tan6 of control specimens were higher than those of short-time aged specimens. FTIR results show a new peak at 1710 $cm^{-1}$ / for short-time aged specimens, originating from carbonyl group formed by the oxidation reaction during the aging process. ESCA results show that the binding energy at 532.9 eV representing the singlet state of oxygen ( $O_{1s}$) decreases by 13.7%, whereas that at 534.6 eV increases by 13.7%. Glass transition temperatures of control and short-time aged specimens are observed to be 95.4$^{\circ}C$ and 113.4$^{\circ}C$, which increase with the increase of aging time. TGA results indicate that the control specimens contain a smaller amount of volatile components than the short-time aged specimens.s.