Teflon & K-12 composite for Microwave Propagation

Surendra Kumar
Department of Electronics and Communication
Engineering, Sharda University
Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh- 201310, India
Email:Surendra_kumar@celindia.co.in.
Dr. Pallavi Gupta
Department of Electronics and
Communication Engineering, Sharda University
Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh- 201310, India
Email: Pallavi.gupta2@sharda.ac.in

Polytetrafluoroethylene (TEFLON) is being used

Abstract— K-12 and polytetrafluoroethylene (TEFLON)
polymer ceramic composites was prepared by powder
processing method for application RF & microwave
devices are studied and experimented in this paper. The
K-12 ceramics is used as a filler material and TEFLON has
been used as a matrix of the composite system. The
dielectric properties of the polymer –ceramic composite
are in good agreement with the theoretical approaches.
The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the composite
is found to be 5 and 0.003 respectively. The dielectric
constant of the composite is higher than the individual
materials. The relative permittivity and dielectric loss increased
with increase in Fused Silica content . This will helps to the
miniaturization of the RF components and microwave
devices for microwave applications.
extensively in the industry because of its superior
properties like low tangent loss (tand 0.0002), low
dielectric constant (€r 2.1), better machining processability
and easier manufacturing process at lower temperatures. It
also exhibits very good chemical inertness in the open
atmosphere. [12] One of the inferiority of TEFLON is that
its substrate has a high linear coefficient of thermal
expansion (4100ppm/1C). . It has also got very low surface
energy. [13]
The properties of the polymer-ceramic composite with
respect the volume fraction of the filler content has been
researched in literature [14–16].
Some of the properties of unfilled Polytetrafluroethylene
(TEFLON) are provided below.

Keywords—ceramics, polymers, composite, microwave, Mechanical Properties

 Density : 2.13–2.19 g/cc
I.INTRODUCTION  Tensile strength : 15–35 MPa
The fast and growing development of RF and microwave  Elongation at break : 150–350 %
industry and applications requires inexpensive electronic  Hardness : 57–64
components with higher performance and yet smaller size. The Electrical properties
ceramic polymer composites are important for different uses  Volume resistivity : 1018 Ω cm
due to their ease of fabrication, and they have been widely  Surface resistivity : 1017 Ω cm
acknowledged and researched over the last few decades [1, 2- Dielectric constant  : 2.1
5]. The various methods are suggested for combining ceramic Dissipation factor : 0.0003
and polymer materials to achieve better required properties for Thermal properties
microwave applications. Although there are several ceramics  Melting temperature °C : 327
are known in the nature which has high dielectric constant and Coefficient of thermal expansion : 142 ppm/°C
low dielectric loss but they are very much brittle. Also their Thermal conductivity : 0.24 W/(m K)
manufacturability is very much tedious and requires high
Max. Working temperature : 260
temperature processing equipments. Polymer-ceramic
composites used in device packaging have to meet important
requirements like appropriate relative permittivity, low Characteristics of K-12 ceramics is given below
dielectric loss, reasonable frequency of operation, and stability
against temperature in a wider span range, high thermal Mechanical Properties
conductivity to heat dissipation, low coefficient of thermal Density : 2.20(g/cm3)
expansion, better mechanical and thermal stability, processing Mohs hardness : 5.5--6.5
at low temperatures and outstanding chemical resistance. [1, Tensile strength (approx.) : 50 MPa
6–9] The balances of thermal electrical and mechanical Bending strength (approx.) : 67 Mpa
properties are required to provide best performance of the Electrical Properties
device at high frequency applications. [10] So, polymers Dielectric loss angle (tan δ) : 0.0002
mixed with low-loss ceramics are suitable for electronic Dielectric constant (ε) @23 °C : 12
packaging, device encapsulation and substrates etc. One of the
important and attractive properties of the ceramic mixed
polymer composites is that their electrical properties can be
changed over a range of application as per the requirements of
the shape and size [11].

978-1-7281-2577-0/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE


Thermal Properties
Thermal conductivity (k) : 0.245 W/m°C
Temperature coefficient of
Expansion (TCE) at 25 °C : 117 ppm/°C
The polymer ceramics composite based on the TEFLON already
researched in other literatures [15]. The K-12 ceramics has very
good dielectric and thermal properties. Its machinability and
joining with metal adhesiveness is very much high. It has a
relative permittivity of 12, dielectric loss 0.0002 at 10 GHz
frequency [20]. It is quite possible that the increase in dielectric
constant of polymer and ceramics composite is observed at
higher frequencies because of the mixing rule for the newly
formed material. The K-12 material will act as filler in the
composite. This newly formed material may be used for
miniaturization of the microwave components or devices for
possible microwave applications because of the higher dielectric
constant and optimized tangent loss.
II. THEORITCAL PPROACH
The effective relative permittivity of polymer–ceramic
composites is very important for the RF & microwave
engineering applications.
The theoretical approach for mixing the polymer and ceramics
together is described by the following equations. The
Bruggeman symmetric has been depicted in Eq. (1) and
Looyenga Eq. (2) as per the mixing rules. These equations are
considered to have good agreement in the microwave range as
researched and reported by Tuhkala et al. [16]
€ i−€ eff € i−€ eff
f+ (1−f )= 0 -----------(1)
€ i+2 € eff € i+2 € eff
€ eff 1/3 =¿(1- f ) € e 1/3 + f € e 1/3 ----------(2)
Where €eff, €e, €i are the effective permittivity of the
polymer-ceramic composite, permittivity of the
Polytetrafluroethylene (TEFLON) , and permittivity of the K-
12 a ceramic filler, respectively, and ‘f’ is denoted as the
volume fraction of the filler. The effective loss tangent can be
calculated from
( tanδeff )α =∑ f ( tanδi )α ------------ (3)
The ‘tanδ eff’ is the loss tangent of the polymer-ceramic
composite the newly material formed. The constant,' ∝' ,
designates the mixing model, its values are, -1= serial, =0
logarithmic, and =1 parallel. [17–19]. The letter ‘f’ again
denotes the volume fraction of the filler. The parallel mixing
approach was used for estimation of the losses. The equation
again holds good correlation with air particle composite also
reported in the literature. [16]
III. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
The commercially K-12 was manufactured using powder
processing technique at Central Electronics Limited , India
and particle size of the processed powder was measured. The
particle size distribution was centered about 1micron.
The TEFLON powder was bought from Ekochem,
Mumbai, India.
The TEFLON and K-12 composite was prepared by
powder processing techniques. For better adhesive and
bonding properties, the K-12 powder was treated with
acetate based coupling agents. The treated powder was
mixed and stirred with Teflon powder in ultrasonic miser
at 70degC for 1 hour. The homogeneity of the mixed
powder is maintained during the mixing process in the
ultrasonic mixer. The mixed powder is treated in the oven
at 300 degC for 2 hour. In this process the binder is
evaporated easily and the required and thoroughly mixed
TEFLON and K-12 powder mixture were obtained. Three
no. of samples in powder forms were created for different
volume fractions of the filler in TEFLON. These
homogeneously mixed composite powders were then
pressed under uniaxial pressure machine of 20MPa for
1min. The rectangular shaped bar were created using the
die and jigs. The obtained bars were sintered at 310 degC
for 2h under controlled atmosphere.
The particle size of the composite was measured using
particle size analyzer from Marvelon Germany at Central
Electronics Limited. The composition of the composite
was measured using XRF method at physics deptt of
Delhi University.
The density of the composites was determined using
buoyancy method at different volume of the fractions of
the K-12 into the Teflon matrix. The composites were
characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques at
Physics deptt of Delhi University, India. The dielectric
constant and dielectric losses were measured using an
Performance network analyzer equipped with the ATE
system and software for the measurement of dielectric
constant and dielectric loss together (Keysight
technologies, USA). The sintered samples of dia 1mm
and length of 20 mm were prepared from the sintered
slab. The cavity perturbation method was used for the
measurement of dielectric properties of the polymer-
ceramic composite.
IV. RESULTS & DISCUSSION
The particle size of the composite mixed powder was
measured and the results are given in figure: 1. It can be
seen from the particle size distribution results that most of
the particles are distributed around 1 micron size which
indicates the homogeneity of the polymer-ceramics
composite in powder form. The most of the particle size of
the composite is uniform across the distribution spectrum.
Figure 1: Particle size analysis of Mixed TEFLON and
K-12
Figure 2: Particle size analysis of Mixed TEFLON and
K-12
Figure 2 shows the XRD pattern of the sintered samples with
volume fraction of 0.3 Vf of the K-12 material. The
crystalline structure of the TEFLON and K-12 composite
decreases as the volume fraction of the K-12 ceramics
increases. The peak in the figure 2 indicates that crystalline
presence of TEFLON material and smaller peak is observed
due to presence of K-12 material. Because of the aggregation
of the filler material in the matrix, the porosity of the
composite increases. The binding or connectivity of the
ceramic particles increases among themselves as the mixing
ratio increases in composite. This leads to the improvement in
the mechanical and thermal properties.
The dielectric constant of the sintered and pressed sample has
been given in figure:2. The data represents the different values
of dielectric constants against the different volume of fraction
of K-12 ceramics into Teflon matrix. It can be observed from
the results that dielectric constant increases with the increase
in the volume fraction of the filler material. The dielectric
constant of the TEFLON and K-12 composite is higher than
the original values of the constituents.
Dielectric Constant of the composite
6
5 5
4 4
3 3
2 [2] N.M. Alford and S.J. Penn, J. Appl. Phys. 80 (1996) 5895-
1 [3] C.-L. Huang, J.-J. Wang and C.-Y. Huang, Mater. Lett. 59
0
0.3Vf
0.5 Vf
0.7 Vf
Figure 2: Dielectric constant of TEFLON and K-12
composite
Similarly tangent loss of the sintered and pressed sample has
been given in figure: 3. The data represents the different
values of tangent loss against the different volume of fraction
of K-12 ceramics into Teflon matrix. It can be observed from
the results that tangent loss increases with the increase in
the volume fraction of the filler material. The dielectric
constant of the TEFLON and K-12 composite is higher
than the original values of the constituents
Dielectric Loss of the Composite
0
0 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.5 Vf
0.7 Vf
0.3Vf
Figure 3: Tangent loss of the TEFLON and K-12
composite
V. CONCLUSION
TEFLON, K-12 ceramics and their Composite have been
discussed for microwave applications. A combination of
polymers and ceramic fillers can effectively resolve the
processing cost as well as processing difficulties with
balanced dielectric, magnetic thermal and mechanical
properties. K-12 and polytetrafluoroethylene (TEFLON)
polymer ceramic composites was prepared by powder
processing method for application RF & microwave
devices are presented in this paper. The dielectric constant
of the composite increases as content of the K-12 ceramics
increases in the composite. Tangent loss of the composite
Because of the increase in dielectric constant of the
polymer-ceramic composite, it may be deployed for
miniaturization of RF & microwave devices.
VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The corresponding author gratefully acknowledges the
support given by Sharda University and Central
Electronics Limited India.
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