JOURNAL OF ADVANCED DIELECTRICS

Vol. 5, No. 2 (2015) 1550012 (8 pages)

© The Authors
DOI: 10.1142/S2010135X15500125

Physical aspects of 0-3 dielectric composites

Lin Zhang, Patrick Bass and Z.-Y. Cheng*
Materials Research and Education Center
Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA
*chengzh@eng.auburn.edu

Received 6 March 2015; Revised 19 April 2015; Accepted 22 April 2015; Published 28 May 2015
0-3 dielectric composites with high dielectric constants have received great interest for various technological applications. Great
achievements have been made in the development of high performance of 0-3 composites, which can be classified into dielectric–
dielectric (DDCs) and conductor–dielectric composites (CDCs). However, predicting the dielectric properties of a composite is still
a challenging problem of both theoretical and practical importance. Here, the physical aspects of 0-3 dielectric composites are
reviewed. The limitation of current understanding and new developments in the physics of dielectric properties for dielectric
composites are discussed. It is indicated that the current models cannot explain well the physical aspects for the dielectric properties
of 0-3 dielectric composites. For the CDCs, experimental results show that there is a need to find new equations/models to predict
the percolative behavior incorporating more parameters to describe the behavior of these materials. For the DDCs, it is indicated that
J. Adv. Dielect. 2015.05. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com

the dielectric loss of each constituent has to be considered, and that it plays a critical role in the determination of the dielectric
response of these types of composites. The differences in the loss of the constituents can result in a higher dielectric constant than
by 200.132.111.137 on 03/07/18. For personal use only.

both of the constituents combined, which breaks the Wiener limits.

Keywords: 0-3 Composites; dielectric properties; model.

1. Introduction of Dielectric Composites
Dielectric materials, which have a high dielectric constant ("),
a low dielectric loss (tan
), and a high breakdown field (i.e.,
dielectric strength, Eb ) have received a great deal of interest
from various technological applications, such as energy-
storage capacitors, electroactive devices, gate dielectrics,
electric powered vehicles and pulse-power applications.1–5
Dielectrics can be inorganic and organic. In general, the in-
organic dielectrics, such as metal oxides and ceramics (es-
pecially ferroelectric ceramics), can exhibit a high dielectric
constant, but they are brittle, exhibit a low Eb, and require a
high processing temperature. Organic dielectrics, such as
polymers, are flexible, exhibit a high Eb , and can be pro-
cessed at a low temperature, but exhibit a low dielectric
constant.6,7 Therefore, it is of interest to develop organic–
inorganic composites in order to optimize the dielectric
properties for different applications. Great strides have been
made in the development of dielectric composites.8–10
A composite is a mixture of materials with significantly
different physical or chemical properties in an attempt to
obtain some advanced properties. The physical properties of a
composite can be the sum, combination, or the product of
the properties of its constituents dependent on the property
and connectivity. It is known that the connectivity of a
composite plays a key role in its properties. The connectivity
for composites was first classified by Newnham et al.11 For
composites with two constituents, their connectivity can be
defined as 0-0, 0-1, 0-2, 0-3, 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, 2-2, 3-2, and 3-3,
where 0/1/2/3 represent the number of dimensions in conti-
nuity for each constitute in the composite.12–15 For example,
a 0-3 composite is defined as having a 0-dimension (i.e.,
isolated) particle embedded in 3-dimensions of a continuous
media (i.e., a polymer matrix).6–8 Dielectric composites, es-
pecially 0-3 composites using a dielectric polymer as matrix,
have been widely studied in last three decades. Based on the
fillers used, the dielectric 0-3 composites using a dielectric
polymer matrix can be classified into: (a) dielectric–dielectric
composites (DDCs), in which the filler is a dielectric; (b)
conductor-dielectric composites (CDCs), in which the filler is
a conductor.7
Mathematically, it is impossible to determine the dielectric
response of a composite even with the detailed information
about the exact microstructure of the composite. However,
it is of theoretical and practical importance to know the re-
lationship between the dielectric properties and the compo-
sition of a composite. Therefore, different assumptions and
approximations have been used to establish the relationship
between the dielectric response and composition of the
composites. The current understanding of the physical aspects
for the dielectric 0-3 composites and the recent achievements
in the development of the dielectric 0-3 composites are briefly
discussed here. The limitation of the current understanding is
reviewed and new developments in the physics behind the
properties of dielectric composites are discussed.

This is an Open Access article published by World Scientific Publishing Company. It is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
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 L. Zhang, P. Bass & Z.-Y. Cheng J. Adv. Dielect. 5, 1550012 (2015)

2. Physics of Dielectric Composites 1200 Parallel connection

Series connection
Lichtenecker's logarithmic law
2.1. Dielectric–dielectric composites 1000 Modified Lichtenecker's law
Maxwell-Wagner equation
For DDCs, it is extremely important to find fillers with a high 800 Bruggeman model
Knott equation
dielectric constant. Therefore, many ferroelectric and relaxor

εeff
600 Yamada Model
ferroelectrics, such as BaTiO3 (BT), Pb(Mg1∕3 Nb2∕3 )O3
400
(PMN), Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT), (Ba,Sr)TiO3 (BST), have been
200
widely used in the development of DDCs.16–25 Unfortunately,
the dielectric constant of a ferroelectric or relaxor ferroelec- 0
tric is strongly dependent on the temperature.26 The discovery 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
of CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) provides new opportunities/avenues Volume fraction of filler (ϕ)
to develop high performance composites due to the facts that
Fig. 1. Composition dependence of the effective dielectric constant
CCTO exhibits a very high dielectric constant (> 104) that is
("eff ) calculated using different models for 0-3 DDCs.
also weakly dependent on the temperature.27–29 Composites
using CCTO have been widely studied.30–45 It should be
mentioned that, in most of DDCs using nanosized ceramic Lichtenecker's logarithmic law and 10 for the Yamada
fillers, the dielectric constant can only reach the value around Model.7 Based on all of the models/equations introduced so
50 even for the composites with a volume fraction of filler up far as illustrated in Fig. 1, it is concluded that: (1) "eff
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to 50 vol.%.7 It is well known that the high filler content increases with increasing ’, in other words, "eff monotoni-
reduces the composite flexibility and results in weak me- cally changes with ’; (2) "eff falls in between the two extreme
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chanical properties, which can limit its applications. Re- curves for parallel and series connections. Actually, the sec-
garding polymers used as the matrix for the development of ond conclusion is the well-known Wiener limits which was
DDCs, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-based ferroelectric introduced by Wiener in 19217,46:
polymers have been used since they exhibit a higher dielectric
"seri  "eff  "para or
constant (
10). However, these polymers exhibit a relative ð1Þ
high loss (tan

10%). Some other nonpolar polymers, such ð’1  " 1 1 1
1 þ ’2  " 2 Þ  "eff  ’1  "1 þ ’2  "2 :
as epoxy, polyethylene (PE), polyester (PS), poly(methyl
methacrylate) (PMMA), poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), and
polyurethanes (PU) are also used as matrix materials for di- 2.2. Conductor–dielectric composites
electric composites.7 These polymers exhibit a low dielectric The dielectric response of a CDC is determined by the per-
constant (< 5) with a very small loss.7,8 colation phenomenon.7 As shown in Fig. 2, if the filler
Understanding the dielectric response of a composite (or content is higher than a certain value (i.e., the percolation
heterogeneous dielectrics) has been an interesting topic for threshold ’c Þ, the composite is a conductor. When the vol-
fundamental research and applications. The first study of the umetric content of conducting filler is lower than the ’c , the
dielectric response of a 0-3 composite was done by Rayleigh composite is an insulator/dielectric and its dielectric constant
in 1890s.7 Based on different assumptions and approxima- increases with increasing ’. As the filler content approaches
tions, various models/equations have been introduced to
simulate the relationship between the effective dielectric
constant ("eff ) of a composite and its composition by using
the dielectric constant ("f ) of the filler and the dielectric
constant ("m ) of the matrix.7 In these models/equations, the
composition of a composite is usually represented by the
volume fraction of fillers (’). In some of the models/equa-
tions, an additional parameter is used to modify the rela-
tionship in order to include the influence of the filler particle
shape or the microstructure on the "eff . The most used
models/equations have been discussed in a previous review.7
The "eff of a composite was simulated using different
models/equations as shown in Fig. 1, where "f ¼ 1000 and
"m ¼ 10 are used. There are eight curves in Fig. 1, among
which two characterize extreme cases: the parallel (black) and
series (red) connection. The other six include four without the Fig. 2. Composition dependence (i.e., volume fraction of conduct-
additional parameter and two (modified Lichtenecker's log- ing filler, ’) of the effective dielectric constant ("eff ) of 0-3 CDCs,
arithmic law and Yamada Model) with the additional pa- where ’c is the percolation threshold (dashed blue line). The insets
rameter. The additional parameter used is 0.3 for the modified show the microstructure of the composites.

1550012-2
 L. Zhang, P. Bass & Z.-Y. Cheng
’c , the dielectric constant increases with increasing filler
content very rapidly so that a giant dielectric constant may be
obtained in the composites close to ’c . This provides an
approach to develop composites with a high dielectric con-
stant. This approach was first used to prepare composites
with a high dielectric constant in 1970s.47,48 Therefore, var-
ious conducting fillers have been used in the development of
CDCs in recent years. Conductor fillers with various shapes
(spherical, core-shell, tube, and bar/wire/fiber-like) ranging in
size from micrometers to nanometers have been studied, such
as with metals,49–54 carbon/carbon nanotubes,55–60 and con-
ducting polymers. 6164 These composites can exhibit a high
dielectric constant (up to 1000) for the composites with a
small ’. This is the major advantage of CDCs over DDCs
since a composite with low ’ would be more flexible.
The ’c is an intrinsic parameter for a composite system
and is a very critical point for a CDC. The ’c is strongly
J. Adv. Dielect. 2015.05. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
dependent on the geometry, shape, size, and distribution of
the conducting fillers.7,47,48 Usually, the influence of the filler
particle size on the ’c is ignored since the particle size is
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much smaller than the size of the sample used in the test. The
influence of the filler shape on the ’c has been studied. It is
experimentally found and theoretically indicated that com-
posites using filler particles that are fiber/tube shaped exhibit
a lower ’c than composites using spherical particles as filler.
Additionally, it is found that the composites using core–shell
particles (the shell is an insulator, while the core is a con-
ductor) as filler exhibit a lower electrical conductivity than
composites using only conductive filler.9 It should be men-
tioned that it has been experimentally demonstrated/found
that ’c is also strongly dependent on the process used to
prepare the composite.7 This is related to the distribution of
the filler, since for the same composite system, different
processes can result in a different distribution of the filler,
which can result in a different ’c . For the same composite
system, it was indicated and experimentally proven that ’c
obtained in the composites with a uniform microstructure is
the highest.54 When the composites have a nonuniform mi-
crostructure, the ’c can be pretty small. However, in this case,
the ’c would be strongly dependent on the sample used.
Based on a random resistance network model, it is
obtained that the "eff at low frequency can be approximately
expressed as7
 
"eff / ½Að’c  ’Þ þ Bð’c  ’Þ  1 ð’ < ’c Þ; ð2Þ
where A (> 0), B (> 0),  (> 0), and  (> 0) are constant.
For a random binary system, it was obtained
 
s ’c  ’ s
"eff / "m ð’c  ’Þ or "eff ¼ "m
’c
ð’ < ’c Þ; ð3Þ
where s (> 0) is a constant. Equation (2) is widely used in the
literature to fit experimental results due to its simiplicity.7–9 It
was also obtained that the "eff of a CDC with ’ close to ’c is
1550012-3
J. Adv. Dielect. 5, 1550012 (2015)
strongly dependent on the frequency as:
"eff / ! 1 ; ð4Þ
where  (< 1) is a constant and ! is the angular frequency.
3. New Physical Aspects for Dielectric Composites
3.1. Dielectric–dielectric composites
As more and more experimental results are being reported,
some results have been shown that contradict the current un-
derstanding. There are two different phenomena: (1) "eff does
not increase with ’ monotonically, and (2) "eff is larger than
the dielectric constant of both constituents. For example, three
different ceramic–polymer composites prepared by different
research groups are shown in Fig. 3, where the dielectric
constants at 100 Hz for composites at room temperature are
plotted versus the volume fraction of ceramic fillers. Shan
reported CCTO-poly[(vinylidenefluoride-co-trifluoroethylene)]
[CCTO-P(VDF-TrFE)] composites with microsized CCTO
particles prepared by solution casting.33 The composites show
relatively high dielectric constant (> 750) around 50 vol.%
then decrease with increasing ’. Dang et al. reported that
results for BT-PVDF composites prepared by a simple blend-
ing and hot-molding procedure.65 The "eff of this composite
increases with increasing ’ then decreases around 45 vol.%.
The appearance of a maximum-like curve on "eff versus ’
contradicts with the monotonically change expected for the
composites. This was simply explained by the possible pores
in the composites with high content of fillers without solid
experimental data on the porosity. Yang et al. reported on
CCTO/PVDF composites using micro-CCTO powders by hot
pressing at about 200  C and under 50 MPa.66 One may find
that two CCTO-based composite systems exhibit very different
80 800
CCTO-P(VDF-TrFE)
33
@ 100 Hz
65
BT-PVDF
66
CCTO-PVDF
60 600
Dielectric constant
Dielectric constant
40 400
20 200
0 0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Volume fraction (ϕ)
Fig. 3. Composition dependence (i.e., volume fraction of the filler,
’) of the effective dielectric constant of composites: CCTO-P(VDF-
TrFE) composites redrawn from Ref. 33, BT-PVDF composites
redrawn from Ref. 65, CCTO-PVDF composites redrawn from
Ref. 66.
 L. Zhang, P. Bass & Z.-Y. Cheng
PI-Alumina, Murugaraj et. al 67
Parallel connection
15 Maxwell-Wagner equation
Series connection
Dielectric constant
εAlumina =9.8
10
εPI=3.5
5
@ 100 kHz
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
Volume fraction (ϕ)
Fig. 4. Composition dependence of the effective dielectric constant
at 100 Hz of PI–alumina composites redrawn from Ref. 67. Three
solid lines are calculated using parallel model (black), series model
J. Adv. Dielect. 2015.05. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
(red), and Maxwell–Wagner equation (green).
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dielectric constant. This is related to CCTO used. It is well
known that the dielectric constant of the CCTO is very sensitive
to the preparation process and composition. As shown in Fig. 3,
"eff versus ’ also exhibited a peak-like curve. "eff increased with
increasing CCTO volume content then decreased. The author
concluded that the microsized CCTO exhibited \insulating"
boundaries in the matrix. All of these results can be summarized
as that the nonmonotonic increase in the dielectric constant with
the filler content is a fairly common phenomena, but there is no
widely accepted explanation. The data shown in Fig. 4 was
reported by Murugaraj et al.,67 where composites with nano-
sized (10–15 nm) alumina ("f ¼ 15) particles were embedded
in polyimide (PI) ("m ¼ 3:5. In the figure, the "eff obtained
using the parallel and series models are included. Clearly, the
experimental results break the Weiner limits.
It should be mentioned that all of the models/equations
proposed for 0-3 composites are based on only the properties
of the matrix and filler. In real 0-3 composites, especially
polymer-based composites, an interfacial layer between the
filler and polymer matrix may exist, which was proved
through studies of the phase transition temperature of the
polymer matrix and composites.7 This interfacial layer may
have different properties compared to the filler and matrix.
Therefore, the interfacial layer has been considered as the reason
responsible for the experimental results. Due to the difficulty in
determining the thickness and dielectric properties of the inter-
facial layer, there are very few quantified results.68–75 In the
literature, whenever there are some phenomena that are difficult
to be understood using the two constituents, it is generally
explained as the results of the interfacial layer. This is in general
correct, but lacks the quantified results.
The interfacial layer has been treated as a single phase of
the material to quantify its dielectric constant in the models.
Therefore, the two-phase composite becomes a three-phase
composite including the two constituents and an interfacial
J. Adv. Dielect. 5, 1550012 (2015)
layer (i.e., interphase) with a dielectric constant "in . The Vo–
Shi model is an empirical three phase model that recognizes a
distinct interphase region surrounding the filler particles. The
thickness of the interfacial layer is dependent on the degree of
interaction between the polymer and the particle, which
results in a nonmonotonic relationship of the dielectric con-
stant with particle volume fraction.67,76,77 The so-called di-
electric constant of the interphase can be as high as 280 for
PI–Alumina composites. That is, the "in /"m is around 80. It is
also obtained that the thickness of the interfacial layer is
about 4 nm. For another epoxy-(PMN–PT) composite, the
dielectric constant of the interphase is calculated to be more
1.0 than 6000. That is, the "in /"m is around 1000.78 Based on the
processes used to prepare the composites (i.e., the composites
are prepared at a temperature lower than 200  C), no change is
expected for the ceramics or the filler particles. Therefore, the
interphase would be the same polymer matrix with a different
microstructure/morphology (i.e., conformation of polymer
chains, crystallinity, and crystalline structure) compared to
the bulky polymer matrix. In this case, dielectric physics
would conclude that it would be impossible for the interphase
to exhibit a dielectric constant of more than 10 times higher
than the polymer matrix. That is, although the experimental
results can be fitted well by considering the interphase, it fails
to explain the nature of the interphase. Therefore, new
physics behind the observed phenomena is missed in current
understanding of the composites.
To understand the dielectric behavior of a composite,
some new aspects of physics have to be considered. By
reviewing all the models/equations, it is easy to realize that
the dielectric loss including the electrical conductivity is not
accounted for in the calculation of the effective dielectric
constant of a composite. If the constituents of composites
have a loss and their losses are different, applying an external
electric field would result in the charge accumulation on the
boundary layer between the two phases. The accumulated
charge should change with the electric field. Therefore, the
accumulate charges act like an electrical dipole, which would
certainly contribute to the "eff .
3.2. Conductor–dielectric composites
In the study of CDCs, Eq. (2) was widely used to determine
the percolation behavior of 0-3 CDCs and the dielectric
constant of CDCs systems.7 In most of the cases, Eq. (2) can
fit the experimental results well. By physics, the fitting
constant s should be a constant. However, the reported results
show that the value of s changes over a broad range: as small
as 0.27 and as large as 1.46,50,54 which may be explained by
the fact that each composite system may have a different
microstructure.79 As mentioned above, the fitting constant ’c
is an intrinsic parameter of the composite system. Therefore,
for a composite system, it is expected that the values of fitting
constants ’c and s are independent of the selection of the
dielectric constant used in the fitting. That is, the dielectric
1550012-4
 L. Zhang, P. Bass & Z.-Y. Cheng J. Adv. Dielect. 5, 1550012 (2015)

0.8 where 0 is the so-called relaxation time of the relaxation

process, ! (¼ 2f , f is the frequency) is the angular frequency,
0.7
"s is the static permittivity (! ¼ 0), "1 is the permittivity at
high frequency limit (! ¼ 1). The \"s  "1 " reflects the
0.6
contribution of the relaxation process to the static dielectric
79
Ni-P(VDF-TrFE), Zhang et. al
0.5
ϕc

79
Ni-P(VDF-CTFE), Zhang et. al
0.2 PANI-PVDF, Yuan et. al 80
CF-PVDF, Dang et. al 55 1 : ε 's=10, ε oo
" =1, τ0 =10-2
MWNT-PVDF, Dang et. al 57 2
0.1 100 2 : ε 's=100, ε "oo=1, τ0 =10-3
ϕ = 0.1
ϕ = 0.3
0.0 ϕ = 0.5

ε 'eff
100 1k 10k 100k 1M ϕ = 0.7
Frequency (Hz) 10 ϕ = 0.8
1 ϕ = 0.9
Fig. 5. Frequency dependence of the fitting constants ’c by fitting ϕ = 0.95
dielectric constant using Eq. (3) for different nanocomposites at ϕ = 0.98
room temperature. The dielectric constant used in the fitting was
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from literatures marked in figure. 1

1 10 100 1k 10k 100k 1M
Frequency (Hz)
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constants at different frequencies should result in the same ’c

and s for the composites at different temperatures. However, it (a)
was recently found that these two fitting constants change with
the data used in the fitting (i.e., the selection of frequency and 50 1 : ε 's=10, ε oo
" =1, τ0 =10-2
temperature), as shown in Fig. 5, where the results from five 2
2 : ε 's=100, ε "oo=1, τ0 =10-3
different composite systems at room temperature are pre- 40
sented.55,57,79,80 That is, the fitting constants (’c and s) of ϕ = 0.1
ϕ = 0.3
Eq. (2) using the dielectric constant of the composites do not 30 ϕ = 0.5
ε "eff

reflect the percolation behavior of the composites. It is believed ϕ = 0.7

20 ϕ = 0.8
that the dependency of the fitting constant ’c on the selection ϕ = 0.9
of the frequency is mainly due to the critical phenomenon ϕ = 0.95
10
described by Eq. (3).81 Therefore, a new relationship/equation ϕ = 0.98
is needed to describe the composition dependence of the "eff 0 1
for the CDCs. In the development of a new relationship, the
critical phenomenon, Eq. (3), has to be considered.82 1 10 100 1k 10k 100k 1M
Frequency (Hz)
(b)
4. Influence of Dielectric Loss
As mentioned above, the loss of each constituent is usually 5 2
ignored for the simulation of the "eff of a composite. For a ϕ = 0.1
real dielectric, the measured loss has two contributions: di- 4 ϕ = 0.3
electric loss and electric conductivity. To illustrate the influ- ϕ = 0.5
3 ϕ = 0.7
ence of the dielectric loss of each constituent on the "eff of a
tan δ

ϕ = 0.8
composite, the simple series connection is considered here. ϕ = 0.9
2
That is, two dielectric layers are connected in series to form an ϕ = 0.95
ϕ = 0.98
extremely simple composite. To make the simulation simple, 1 1
the two dielectric layers are considered as two ideal Debye
media with a zero electrical conductivity. That is, for each 0
dielectric layer, its dielectric properties can be written as1,2:
1 10 100 1k 10k 100k 1M
"  "1 " "
"  ð!Þ ¼ "1 þ s ; " 0 ¼ "1 þ s 212 ; Frequency (Hz)
1 þ j!0 1 þ ! 0
(c)
ð"  "1 Þ!0 " 00 ð"  "1 Þ!0
" 00 ¼ s ; tan
¼ 0 ¼ s ; Fig. 6. Frequency dependence of the dielectric response of two
1 þ ! 0
2 2 " "s þ "1 ! 2  02
Debye media in the series connection: (a) real part (i.e., dielectric
ð5Þ constant), (b) imaginary part and (c) loss.

1550012-5
 L. Zhang, P. Bass & Z.-Y. Cheng
constant and is also termed as the permittivity strength of the
relaxation process.
For a series connection of two dielectric layers, the " eff
would be:
1 1’ ’ to the difference in the loss of their constituents. It should be
¼ þ ; ð6Þ
"eff  ð!Þ "1  ð!Þ "2  ð!Þ
where ’ is the volumetric fraction of the dielectric layer
(constituent) 2, and "1  ð!Þ and "2  ð!Þ are the dielectric
responses of the two dielectric layers and can be written using
Eq. (5) with corresponding "s , "1 and 0 . For further illus-
tration, numerical calculation is carried out using follow-
ing parameters: "s1 ¼ 10, "11 ¼ 1, 01 ¼ 10 2 , "s2 ¼ 100,
"12 ¼ 1, 02 ¼ 10 3 . Figure 6 shows the results for the
composites with different compositions.
From the data shown in Fig. 6(a), one can find that when
the frequency is very low (i.e., the loss of both dielectric
layers is almost zero), the "eff increases with the ’ mono-
J. Adv. Dielect. 2015.05. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
tonically and the "eff is in the range of Wiener limits. How-
ever, when the frequency is somewhere from
500 Hz to
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40 kHz, the "eff increases with ’ initially and then
decreases with ’. Therefore, a nonmonotonic or peak-like
relationship between the "eff and ’ is expected. From
Fig. 6(c), one can find that the difference in the loss between
two dielectrics is also big in this range (500–40 kHz). To
further illustrate it, "eff at different frequencies is plotted in
Fig. 7 as a function of ’. Clearly, a peak-like curve is
obtained, which is very similar with the results reported in
Figs. 3 and 4.
Based on the results shown in Fig. 6(c), it is found that the
loss of the two constituents are the same at 143.81 Hz. In this
case, the loss of the composites is the same as the loss of the
constituents of the composites. As shown in Fig. 7, at
143.81 Hz the change of "eff with ’ follows the typical series
model. That is, although both dielectrics have a high loss,
there is no peak-like relationship between "eff and ’.
Therefore, it is concluded that the peak-like relationship be-
tween "eff and ’ can only be obtained in the case when the
50
1 : εs =10, εoo=1, τ =10 -2
40 2 : εs =100, εoo =1, τ =10 -3
30
30
20
ε 'eff
20
10
10
0 L. Zhang and Z.-Y. Cheng, Development of polymer-based 0-3
0.95 0.96 0.97 0.98 0.99 1.00
0 (2011).
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6
ϕ Z. M. Dang, J. K. Yuan, J. W. Zha, T. Zhou, S. T. Li and G. H. Hu,
Fig. 7. Composition (i.e., volume fraction of second medium, ’)
dependence of the dielectric constant at different frequencies for two
Debye media in the series connection.
J. Adv. Dielect. 5, 1550012 (2015)
dielectric loss of two is different. In other words, when the
dielectric loss of the constituents in a composite is different, a
peak-like curve is expected for "eff and ’. Therefore, the
reported results shown in Figs. 3 and 4 can be explained due
mentioned that the simulation above is based on the dielectric
loss due to the relaxation. If a dielectric has a nonzero elec-
trical conductivity, the conductivity will contribute to the
dielectric loss. In this case, above conclusion is valid.
5. Summary
In this work, the physical aspect of 0-3 dielectric composites
is examined. The limitation of the current understanding and
the new development of physics for explaining the dielectric
properties of dielectric composites are discussed. It is found
that the current models of both DDCs and CDCs cannot
readily explain the physical aspects of dielectric properties of
0-3 dielectric composites. For CDCs, it is indicated that there
is a need for a new equations/models to predict the percola-
tive behavior. For DDCs, it indicates that the difference in the
dielectric loss between the constituents in a composite have a
strong impact on the dielectric response of the composites,
which can result in a peak-like curve between "eff and ’ that
break the Wiener limits.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by an USDA (2014-67022-21694)
grant and a NASA grant (Grant #G00007275).
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