The Influence of Filler Particle Size, Concentration and Distribution on Dielectric Properties of Epoxy Resin- Ceramic Composites Using Mixture Laws

Abstract

Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations of the effective permittivity of several two-dimensional Epoxy Resin-Ceramic ellipsoid particle composites (RC) were performed in quasistatic limit. Using an algorithm developed, three distribution models (Normal, Log-normal, and Rayleigh) were applied to randomly generate a large number of particles. In order to explore the effect of particle morphology on the effective permittivity, an extensive study was conducted on three RC composites of different ceramic filler permittivity (=80, 400, and 3600). The results show the major impact of particle size, distribution, surface fraction, and permittivity  on increasing the effective permittivity of composites. In addition, the permittivities obtained by FEM were compared with classical and modified theoretical models to determine the most suitable model. It was found that the modified Maxwell Garnett and Yamada models accurately predict the increase in permittivity as a function of surface fraction with an error rate of less than 0.2. The results of this research are essential for optimizing the performance of materials used for energy storage and harvesting, sensors, and various electrical and electronic devices before their design.