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To investigate the effect of poly ethylene glycol (PEG) chain length on the dielectric properties of paraffin‐based PEG polymers (H(CH₂)_n–(OCH₂CH₂)_mOH) from both experimental and analytical approach.

Dielectric constant studies of paraffin‐based PEG polymers were carried out at temperatures above the melting point. The measurements were carried out at frequencies between 0.4 and 20 GHz. The number of PEG units, m, was varied from 0 to 80 to investigate the effect of the PEG chain length on the dielectric properties of the whole polymer.

With the existence of a dipole moment on PEG but not on pure paraffin, both the real and imaginary part of the dielectric permittivity become larger with increasing chain length of PEG. PEG 3000 showed the highest dielectric constants in the measured frequency range. The effect of the PEG chain length can be explained well by introducing the fraction of molecular weight of PEG divided by the molecular weight of the whole polymer (we call this fraction “Mw fraction of PEG”). Both, real and imaginary part of the dielectric permittivity exhibit a cubic dependence of the molecular weight fraction, and the loss tangent exhibits a linear dependence. These relationships make it possible to predict the microwave heating of the polymer in function of the PEG chain length, carbon chain length and microwave frequency.

For the dielectric permittivity of paraffin‐based PEG polymers, the effect of the PEG chain length, carbon chain length and applied microwave frequency on the loss tangent was explained well by introducing the molecular weight fraction of PEG.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the influence of non-uniform temperature distribution inside a box furnace during the firing process on electrical properties of the low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) materials used in radio frequency (RF)/microwave applications.

The authors studied the change in dielectric constant of two popular LTCC materials (DP 951 and DP 9K7) depending on the position of their samples inside the box furnace. Before firing of the samples, temperature distribution inside the box furnace was determined. The dielectric constant was measured using the method of two microstrip lines.

The findings showed that non-uniform temperature distribution with spatial difference of 6°C can result in 3-4 per cent change of the dielectric constant. It was also found that dielectric constant of the two tested materials shows disparate behavior under the same temperature distribution inside the box furnace.

The dielectric constant of the substrate materials is crucial for RF/microwave applications. Therefore, it was shown that 3-4 per cent deviation in dielectric constant can result in considerable detuning of microwave circuits and antennas.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the quantitative description of the impact of temperature distribution inside a box furnace on electrical properties of the LTCC materials has never been published in the open literature. The findings should be helpful when optimizing production process for high yield of reliable LTCC components like filters, baluns and chip antennas.

A review of the dielectric measurement techniques that are currently available for the characterization of thick film and LTCC materials at microwave and millimeter wave frequencies is presented. The intention is to show the relative advantages and limitations of the various methods, and to provide some practical guide to the particular technique that is most suitable for a given type of material, for use in a particular application. In addition, a novel slit cavity resonator method is proposed to enable substrate parameters to be more easily measured, whilst retaining high measurement accuracy. Measured data on materials from a variety of manufacturers are presented to show the validity and usefulness of this method.

Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is a technique for reconstructing information about the spatial distribution of the contents of closed pipes by measuring variations in the dielectric properties of the material inside the pipe. In this paper, we propose a method that solves the non‐linear reconstruction problem directly leading to less iterations and higher accuracy than linear back projection algorithms currently in use in most ECT systems.

The aim of this paper is to investigate permittivity of nano structured Ni_0.7‐xCo_xZn_0.3Fe₂O₄ thick films at microwave frequencies.

Nanosized Ni_0.7‐xCo_xZn_0.3Fe₂O₄ ferrites with x=0, 0.04, 0.08 and 0.12 were prepared by sucrose precursor technique using the constituent metal nitrates. Thick films of the ferrites were fabricated on alumina substrates by screen‐printing technique. Microwave dielectric constant (ε′) and the loss factor (ε″) for the thick films were measured by VSWR slotted section method in the 8‐18 GHz range of frequencies. Microwave attenuation properties were studied using a waveguide reflectometer set up.

Both the ε′ and ε″ were found to vary with frequency and composition x. It is observed that, value of ε′ increases with increase in x, due to the increase in bulk density and reduction in porosity of the material, that resulted due to the substitution of cobalt in Ni‐Zn ferrite. The microwave transmission loss offered by the thick films was found to increase with the increase in cobalt concentration x. Within the band width of 4 GHz (from 12‐16 GHz), all the films except that with x=0.04 offered the reflection loss of less than 3 dB.

The dielectric constant of Ni_0.7‐xCo_xZn_0.3Fe₂O₄ thick films have been reported for the first time. These thick films provide scope for cost effective planar ferrite devices.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate microwave reflection, transmission, and complex permittivity of p‐toluene‐2‐sulfonic acid doped conducting polypyrrole coated nylon‐lycra textiles in the 1‐18 GHz frequency with a view to potential applications in the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with such coated fabrics.

The chemical polymerization of pyrrole is achieved by an oxidant, ferric chloride and doped with p‐toluene sulfonic acid (pTSA) to enhance the conductivity and improve stability. Permittivity of the conducting textile substrates is performed using a free space transmission method accompanied by a mathematical diffraction reduction method.

The real part of permittivity increases with polymerization time and dopant concentration, reaching a plateau at certain dopant concentration and polymerization time. The imaginary part of permittivity shows a frequency dependent change throughout the test range. All the samples have higher values of absorption than reflection. The total electromagnetic shielding effectiveness exceeds 80 percent for the highly pTSA doped samples coated for 3 h.

A non‐contact, non‐destructive free space method thin flexible specimens to be tested with high accuracy across large frequency range. The non‐destructive nature of the experiments enables investigation of the stability of the microwave transmission, reflection, absorption and complex permittivity values. Moreover, mathematical removal of the diffraction enables higher accuracy.

The objective of this work was to examine the anticorrosive behaviour of four different epoxy coatings, which were formulated with zinc pigments and were applied on pretreated steel panels exposed to deionised/deaerated water taken from the installations of the Greek Public Electricity Company, as well as to compare the results of this study with those of a relevant, previous work. The coating's performance was assessed by the measurement of the potentiodynamic polarisation resistance, by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and the measurement of dielectric permittivity, during the deionised/deaerated water immersion tests. Additionally, accelerated salt spray tests were performed. All types of coatings tested exhibited a high protective performance. It was concluded that the epoxy system containing zinc dust was the most effective anticorrosion coating under the conditions relevant to this study.

The purpose of this study is to utilize two types of gypsum mold wastes from two different factories as novel and economical reinforcing fillers for composites that may be useful for building materials and floors. Two types of gypsum mold wastes from two different factories as raw materials were incorporated into linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) aiming to get rid of that waste in one hand and obtaining useful economical composites suitable for building materials and floors.

Composites were prepared from two types of gypsum mold wastes substituted with different ratios from raw gypsum and LLDPE throughout the melt blending technique. The physico-mechanical and electrical investigations in addition to the morphology of the composites were included.

The mechanical results illustrate that substituting commercial gypsum with gypsum mold waste positively affects tensile strength, flexural strength and hardness shore D for the LLDPE composites. The tensile strength increased from 5 MPa for LLDPE filled with commercial gypsum as blank samples to 11.2 and 13.2 MPa for LLDPE filled with D and S waste. Also, electrical properties which include both permittivity ɛ′ and dielectric loss ɛ″ increased with increasing the waste content in the LLDPE matrix. In addition to the electrical conductivity values, σ lies in the order of insulation materials. Consequently, it is possible to produce materials with a gypsum matrix by adding industrial waste, improving the behavior of the traditional gypsum and enabling those composites to be applied in various construction applications as eco-friendly tiles.

This study aims to prepare eco-friendly composites based on LLDPE and waste gypsum mold to preserve resources for the coming generations, other than lowering the environmental footprint and saving the costs of getting rid of it.

Galvanized steel specimens were coated with four different organic systems, containing either special acrylic resins or epoxy resins with or without wash primer. The anticorrosive performance of these duplex systems when exposed to an environment of 3.5 percent w/w NaCl solution, was investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, corrosion potential monitoring, potentiodynamic polarization and dielectric measurements. Interrelation of the obtained results, confirmed by visual observations after salt spray and weathering tests, shows that all four coating systems are more protective than simple galvanizing. The system, comprising a wash primer, a two‐component epoxy resin primer and an epoxy resin finish paint, demonstrates the best anticorrosive behavior among the four systems examined.

Four different organic systems, containing either vinyl acetate resins or epoxy resins were applied on steel pretreated specimens exposed to deionized and deaerated water taken from the installations of the Public Greek Electricity Company. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, potentiodynamic polarization measurements, dielectric measurements and visual observations after salt spray test were performed for monitoring the changes of the organic systems characteristics at predetermined exposure time in the deionized – deaerated water. All four coating systems found providing protection on steel surfaces. The classification of their performance depends mainly on the composition of the primer, as well as, on the intrinsic characteristics of the other layers. Thus the system consisting of epoxy primer with zinc dust, epoxy high build layer and a two component epoxy paint with iron oxide is the one exhibiting the highest protection efficiency.