Preliminary Characterization of a Nanodielectric Material

This paper presents a preliminary electrical and thermal characterization carried out on an epoxy nanocomposite material. It consisted of an epoxy matrix containing micrometric quartz and a small amount of nanoclay. AC electrical breakdown (ACBD) was performed on sheet samples with and without nanomaterial. The thermal characterization of this composite material and its reference includes thermogravimetry (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results show that the ACBD strength is slightly affected by the presence of such concentration of nanomaterial in the epoxy: greatest ACBD voltage and less disperse data. The thermal analyses of the polymer composite showed that decomposition temperature remain almost unchanged with addition of such a small amount of nanoclay.