Investigation on Thermal Degradation Phenomena on Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) through Dielectric Spectroscopy

Investigation of thermal degradation of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) has been carried out in this paper. LDPE plaques made directly from commercial pellets has been thermally stressed at high temperature (110°C) and characterized through both chemical and electrical measurements. In particular, oxidation and morphological changes contributions inside polymer have been correlated to modification of the imaginary part of dielectric constant. This comparison could put the basis in developing specific nondestructive techniques (NDT) for polymer diagnostics based on electrical measurements.