Study on the Effect of Ball Milling on Dielectric and Thermal Behaviour of High Performance Polymer Composites

Abstract

The synthesis of electrolytic grade iron (Fe) nanopowder was done by using planetary ball milling. It was found that the average crystallite size of the iron powder after 20 h milling was 32 nm. The high performance polymeric composites based on poly (aryletherketone) (PAEK) as a matrix and Fe as filler were prepared by planetary ball milling followed by hot pressing. Composites containing 50 wt.% Fe particles with varying milling time (0 to 20 h) were prepared. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the Fe particles are well dispersed in the PAEK matrix. The dielectric constant of the PAEK/Fe (50 wt.%) composite increased with ball milling time up to 5 h thereafter it decreased on further increasing the milling time. It was also found that the 10 % weight loss (T10) degradation temperature and the maximum degradation temperatures of the composites were above 530 °C. However, for a given composite, these temperatures were found to decrease with increasing ball milling time.