Influence of mechanical stresses on some electrical properties of polymers

The influence of mechanical stresses on relaxations and on electrical breakdown of polyethylene is reviewed and analyzed. It is shown that the electrical aging model developed by one of the authors could be extended to describe the influence of the stress through the activation volume of the studied process. The parameters affecting the activation volume are discussed and it is shown that several electrical properties of polymers could be significantly changed by the application of moderate external stresses. Future work in this domain is also briefly discussed.