Effect of incorporation of different additives in sustainable polymers on selected electrical and mechanical properties

We present here our findings on the influences of different additives on the electric and mechanical properties of a sustainable polymer. For our experiments, two different flame retardants, two fillers and one bio based fiber material were incorporated in the sustainable base polymer by melt compounding. Samples were produced and investigated. Main focus of the investigation was the influence of additive content on selected electrical and mechanical properties, like the breakdown voltage, the dielectric constant, the surface and bulk resistivity as well as the E-modulus. The E-modulus was determined by bending test. Our results show that influence depends on the type as well as the fraction of additive in the polymer. It was found that in general the incorporation of additives leads to a decrease in electric properties, however the magnitude depends on the actual additive. While every additive does influence the mechanical, the bio based fibers lead to an increase in the E-modulus and the flame retardants to a decrease in elasticity.