STUDIES ON CHARGE STORAGE AND ELECTRICAL CONDUCTION IN BIAXIALLY ORIENTED POLYPROPYLENE AND OTHER POLYMERS

Abstract

Currently there is intense scientific and technological interest in polymers because of their potentially useful and important 'applications in electrical and electronic industries. They have gained special status because of the need for large area devices and low cost of fabrication. Polymers are being used in a large number of devices such as microphones, gas filters, under-water transducers, radiation dosimeters, piezo and pyroelectric detectors. Besides, a revolutionary change in capacitor technology has been made with the introduction of biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) films since it provides a very high dielectric strength. For furthering of these newer vistas demands, one needs to understand the underlying mechanisms of trapping and electrical conduction in polymers in relation to their structure. Biaxially oriented polymer films have better physical properties in both directions of the films as compared to unoriented and uniaxial oriented films. Though charge storage and electrical conduction properties have been studied in unoriented polypropylene films, a little attention is devoted to these properties in the case of BOPP. Hence, the studies on the charge storage and the electrical conduction in BOPP in details along with the structural properties forms the topic of the present thesis.