Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical

Engineers, Part L: Journal of Materials Design

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Dielectric and microwave properties of natural rubber-based composites tailored by the fillers specific
features
Omar A Al-Hartomy, Ahmed A Al-Ghamdi, Falleh R Al-Solamy, Nikolay Dishovsky, Desislava Slavcheva, Vladimir Iliev
and Farid El-Tantawy
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part L: Journal of Materials Design and Applications 2013 227:
168 originally published online 15 October 2012
DOI: 10.1177/1464420712463850
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Original Article

Dielectric and microwave properties

of natural rubber-based composites
tailored by the fillers specific features

Proc IMechE Part L:

J Materials: Design and Applications
227(2) 168176
! IMechE 2012
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1464420712463850
pil.sagepub.com

Omar A Al-Hartomy1,2, Ahmed A Al-Ghamdi1,

Falleh R Al-Solamy3,4, Nikolay Dishovsky5, Desislava Slavcheva5,
Vladimir Iliev6 and Farid El-Tantawy7

Abstract
This article presents the results on the effect of specific characteristics of four completely different carbon black types
upon the dielectric and microwave properties of natural rubber based composites. It has been found that the proneness
of carbon black particles to interact, aggregate and agglomerate affects the dielectric properties of the composites much
more than their microwave ones. The proneness of carbon black particles to form chains, aggregates and agglomerates
affects unfavorably the microwave properties of the composite thus filled. Fullerene carbon black having the lowest
specific surface area and proneness to aggregate and agglomerate yields good microwave properties of the
composites.The study demonstrates that the dielectric and microwave properties of rubber composites can be tailored
via an appropriate selection of filler which specific chemical nature and structure are capable of yielding the parameters
required for the particular applications.
Keywords
Natural rubber, nanocomposites, dielectric properties, microwave properties
Date received: 24 January 2012; accepted: 3 September 2012

Introduction
The production of materials possessing microwave
absorbing and electromagnetic interference (EMI)
shielding properties has been gaining signicant
importance since microwaves widely exploited in
contemporary technologies have undesirable eects
on the ora, fauna and humans. EMI shielding also
prevents distortion of television, radio and aircraft
control signals.15 Rubber or plastics lled with conductive particles, conductive paints, conductive lms,
fabrics and metal shields are materials aording control over EMI shielding eectiveness and microwave
absorption. There is a great number of dierent functional llers used for the purpose. Those include furnace and acetylene carbon black, graphite, metal
powders, akes, particles coated with metals.5
Usually the llers enhance to a great extent the conductivity and dielectric losses of the composite. Being
very eective and often used in a broad frequency
range for various applications, those llers have
been often investigated.69 It has been shown in
Rosenov and Bell1 how nickel bers change EMI
shielding eectiveness of polycarbonate. Shielding
eectiveness dependent on the method of

incorporation has been also reported in Rosenov

and Bell.1 There are comparative cost data which indicate that aluminium akes and stainless steel bers are
the most cost eective llers.10 Feldspar, nickel, silver,
silver-coated glass spheres, silver-plated copper,
silver-plated aluminium and silver-plated nickel have
also been described as llers of natural rubber
matrixes for EMI shielding composites.10

Department of Physics, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Department of Physics, University of Tabuk, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia
3
Department of Mathematics, University of Tabuk, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia
4
Department of Mathematics, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi
Arabia
5
Department of Polymer Engineering, University of Chemical
Technology and Metallurgy, Bulgaria
6
Department of Wireless Communications and Broadcasting, College
of Telecommunications and Posts, Sofia, Bulgaria
7
Department of Physics, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt
2

Corresponding author:
Nikolay Dishovsky, Department of Polymer Engineering, University of
Chemical Technology and Metallurgy 8 Kl. Ohridski Blvd Sofia, 1756
Bulgaria.
Email: dishov@uctm.edu

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Al-Hartomy et al.

169

Table 1. Typical properties of the carbon black used.

Carbon
black

Iodine
adsorptiona
(mg/g)

CTAB surface
areab (m2/g)

BET surface
areac (m2/g)

DBP
absorption
(mL/100 g)

CDBP
absorption
(mL/100 g)

Primery particle
size, (nm)

Corax N 220
Printex L6
Printex XE 2
Fullerene black

121
300
1091
100

96
136
600
1

105
150
1000
1.3

98
119
403
80

70
103
370
65

2932
1080
520
19002300

The iodine number (iodine adsorption) reflects a not true surface area, because it is affected by porosity, surface impurities and surface oxidation.
The cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) surface area analyzes the so-called external surface area which corresponds to the accessible surface
area for an elastomer.
c
Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) nitrogen adsorption surface area provides the total surface area including porosity.
DBP: dibutylphtalate; CDBP: crushed dibutylphtalate.
b

The polyoxymethylene (POM)/carbon nanotube

composite may nd applications in antielectrostatic,
conductive and electromagnetic interfereme shielding
elds.11 Carbon nanotube lled POM composites are
easily molded even at a high content of carbon nanotubes.11 The compromise among EMI shielding, electrical conductivity and mechanical properties has
been obtained when the composite contains a mixture
of carbon black and short carbon bers.12,13
Depending on the type of ller used for EMI shielding, concentrations of 3 to 40 wt% are required to
obtain eective EMI shielding.10 A combination of
particular conductive llers with elongated llers
(e.g. bers) is the most classical example of adequate
ller selection that helps to reduce ller content in
EMI shielding and conducting compounds.
Most of the present-day microwave absorbers are
produced of a dielectric rubber matrix and specic
functional llers with high valuesof the imaginary
part of the complex dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability that absorb high frequency energy
(carbon black, graphite, micro- and nanosized metal
powders).1416
It is obvious that microwave and EMI shielding
eciency is dependent on the type and conductivity
of materials used. With regard to tailoring the dielectric and microwave properties of composites it is
worth studying how the former are aected by some
specics of the ller, namely, its particles size, specic
surface area, the availability of functional groups over
the surface, the particles structure and their propensity to aggregate and agglomerate, the ller compatibility and interaction with the elastomer matrix. The
results from our investigations on those eects are
reported in the current article.

Province, China. Other ingredients such as zinc

oxide (ZnO), stearic acid (SA), N-tert-Butyl-2-benzothiazolesulfenamide (TBBS) and sulphur (S) were
commercial grades and used without further
purication.

Characterization of the carbon black used

Four types of llers having absolutely dierent specic surface area and structure were chosen for the
experiments: furnace carbon black Corax N220, furnace carbon black Printex L6, extra conductive black
Printex XE-2B (all produced by Evonik) and fullerene
black, produced by Alfa Aesar (A Johnson Matthey
Company). The most important characteristics of the
four types of llers are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1 reveals that the llers dier entirely in their
characteristics. The primary particles formed during
stage of the initial carbon black formation fuse
together building up three-dimensional branched clusters called aggregates. High structure black exhibits a
high number of primary particles per aggregate while
low structure black has only a weak aggregation.
These aggregates again may form agglomerates
linked by Van der Waals interactions. The empty
space (void volume) between the aggregates and
agglomerates usually expressed as the volume of dibutylphtalate (DBP) adsorbed by a given amount of
carbon black, is described by the term structure (or
structurality) of the carbon black. It is assumed the
DBP adsorption reects the total carbon black structure, which comprises both aggregates and agglomerates, whereas the crushed DBP (CDBP) adsorption
test eliminates loose agglomerates and easily destroyable aggregates.

Preparation and vulcanization of

rubber compounds

Experimental
Materials
Natural rubber (SMR 10) was purchased from North
Special Rubber Corporation of Hengshui, Hebei

Compositions of rubber compounds (in phr) consisted

of natural rubber (NR)  100, stearic acid  2,
ZnO  5, Filler (as shown in Table 1)  10,
TBBS  0.8 and sulphur  2.25.

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The rubber compounds were prepared on an open

two-roll laboratory mill (L/D 320  360 and friction
1.27). The speed of the slow roll was 25 r/min. The
experiments were repeated for verifying the statistical
signicance. The ready compounds in the form of
sheets stayed 24 h prior to their vulcanization.
The optimal curing time (10 min) was determined
by the vulcanization isotherms, taken on an oscillating disc vulcameter MDR 2000 (Alpha Technologies)
at 150  C according to ISO 3417:2002.

Measurements
Microwave properties. Reection and attenuation
Reection and attenuation measurements were carried out using adopted power Pa in the output of a
measuring line without losses where samples of materials may be included. Because of the wide frequency
measurement a coaxial line was used. Samples of the
materials were shaped into discs having an external
diameter D 20.6 mm (equal to the outer diameter of
the coaxial line) and thickness
& 2 mm. The discs
internal diameter were dependent on the relative
dielectric permittivity of the material.
The sample reected a part of the incident electromagnetic wave with power Pin . The rest of the wave
with power Pp penetrated the material, so that
the attenuation L depended on the coecient of
reection jDj. Its module was determined by a
reectmeter.
Thus the attenuation was determined by
L 10 log

Pa
, dB
Pp

where

Figure 1. Scheme of the equipment for determining the

microwave properties.

In the second, if reection and absorption in the

material are known, S.E. is determined by a denition, as
S:E: R L, dB

where R 20 lgj j, dB is the attenuation due to the

reection of the wave at the interfaces.
In the present work the shielding eectiveness was
determined by equation (4).
Dielectric properties. Complex permittivity
The complex permittivity wasdetermined applying
the resonance methodbased on the cavityperturbation
technique.
Having measured the resonance frequency of an
empty cavity resonator fr the material sample was
placed into the resonator and the shift in resonance
frequency f" was measured. The dielectric constant "r
was calculated from the shift in resonancefrequency,
cavity and the sample cross sections Sr and S" ,
respectively
"r 1

Pp Pin: 1  j j

P0
, dB
Pa

Sr fr  f"

2S"
fr

For the testing of both parameters is used the scheme,

consisting of a set of generators for the whole range
HP686A and G4 79 to 82 (1), coaxial section of the
deck E2M Orion, with samples of material (2), Power
meter HP432A (3), scalar reectance meter HP416A
(4) and reect meter (R) including two directional
couplers Narda 4222.16 and two crystal detectors
Narda 4503 -N (Figure 1).
Shielding eectiveness
This parameter is dened as the sum of the reection losses R, dB and attenuation L, dB in the
material.
It can be directly measured or calculated from the
measured reectance and attenuation in the material.
In the rst case, as measured: incident power on the
sample Pin and adopted after the sample Pa (Figure 1),
shielding eectiveness (S.E.) is determined by equation
S:E: 10 log

The sample was in the form of a disc with a diameter of 10 mm and about 2 mm thickness. It was
placed at thelocation of maximum electric eld in
the cavity. Because the thickness of the sample was
not equal to the height of the resonator, a dielectric
occurred with an equivalent permittivity "e at the
place of its inclusion. The parameterwas determined
by equation (5) where instead "r was saved "e . Then "r
was determined by
"r  "e k 1  k,
55 l

where k l=
and l is the distance from the disc to

the top of the resonator.
Loss factor (tan d)
The loss factor (tan d) was calculatedfrom the
quality factor of the cavity with Q" and without a
sample Qr


1 Sr
1
1

tan 
 
4"r S" Q" Qr

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Al-Hartomy et al.

171

The measurement setup used several generators for

the whole range: HP686A and G4 79 to 82 (1), frequency meters: H 532A; FS 54 (2), cavity resonator
(3), sample (4) and oscilloscope EO 213(5) (Figure 2).
All microwave and dielectric parameters were measured in the 112 GHz frequency range.

Figure 2. Scheme of the equipment for measuring the

dielectric properties.

Results and discussion

Dielectric properties
Dielectric permittivity. Figure 3 presents the function
dielectric permittivity versus frequency in the 112
GHz range for the composites lled at 10 phr with
the four types of carbon black diering completely
in their specic characteristics.
The gure allows the following conclusions.
1. Increasing the frequencyleads to an increase in
dielectric permittivity for all llers. The eect is
the most pronounced at Printex XE-2B.
2. All composites exhibit the same tendency: the
composite comprising furnace carbon black
Corax N220 has the lowest dielectric permittivity
values; that comprising fullerene carbon black has
higher dielectric permittivity values; much higher,
though close to the values of the former composite, are the values for composite comprising
Printex L6; while the highest are the values for
composite comprising Printex XE-2B.

Figure 3. Frequency dependence of dielectric permittivity for

NR composites with different types of carbon black.

Dielectric loss angle tangent (tan ). The dependence of

the dielectric loss angle tangent on the frequency for
composites comprising the four types of carbon black
is shown in Figure 4.
The eect is quite similar to that observed for the
dielectric permittivity. The noticed tendency is also
the same. The dissimilarity is in the fact that dielectric
loss angle tangent values for the composite comprising Printex XE-2B is signicantly dierent from those
for the composites comprising the other three types of
llers which are remarkably close.

Microwave properties
Microwave attenuation. The attenuation of electromagnetic waves as a function of the frequency for the
composites lled with the dierent carbon black studied is presented in Figure 5.
It is obvious that the values of the parameter studied for all the composites are rather close at lower
frequencies (up to 6 GHz). The dierences become
considerable at frequencies higher than 6 GHz. The
composites comprising Printex L6 and Corax N220
carbon black possess the lowest attenuation values.
The highest are the values for composite comprising
Printex XE-2B.

Figure 4. Frequency dependence of dielectric loss angle tangent for NR composites with different types of carbon black.

Reflection coefficient. The reection coecients of composites studied comprising the dierent types of
carbon black studied as a function of frequency are
plotted in Figure 6.

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Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 227(2)

Figure 5. Frequency dependence of attenuation coefficient of

electromagnetic waves for NR composites with different types
of carbon black.

Figure 7. Frequency dependence of electromagnetic shielding effectiveness for NR composites with different types of
carbon black.

wave attenuation values, has the highest values of

theelectromagnetic waves reection coecient
(above 8 GHz). On the other hand, the composite
comprising Corax N220 whose electromagnetic wave
attenuation values are very low possesses a high electromagnetic waves reection coecient. That seems
to be the most disadvantageous combination since
the aim has been to obtain composites whose high
values of electromagnetic wave attenuation values
are complimented by a low electromagnetic waves
reection coecient. According to some authors
that is achievable using either a geometrically heterogeneous surface of the composites to reect the electromagnetic waves or via multilayer structures of the
compositewherein the ller concentration in each
layer increases gradually.1719

Figure 6. Frequency dependence of reflection coefficient of

electromagnetic waves for NR composites with different types
of carbon black.

The plotted tendencies demonstrate that the electromagnetic waves reection coecient increases at
higher frequencies. A more scrutinized analysis also
shows that in the case there are no pronounced dierences in the composites behavior caused by the type of
carbon black, i.e. the structural specics and characteristics of the ller have a negligible eect on the
parameter studied. Obviously the existing dierences
are more due to the peculiarities of the composites
surface than to the structural specics of the ller.
However, the values of the electromagnetic waves
reection coecient for the dierent composites are
close. It is worth noting that the composite lled with
Printex XE-2B that has the highest electromagnetic

Electromagnetic shielding effectiveness. Figure 7 shows the

electromagnetic shielding eectiveness as a function of
the frequency.
As seen the electromagnetic shielding eectiveness
values are quite sensitive to frequency alternations.
Even a small frequency change can lead to 7 to 8
times lower values as it is in the case of the composites
lled with Printex L6 and Corax N220 carbon black.
Regarding the potential applications of the composites, special attention should be paid to those
whose electromagnetic shielding eectiveness remain
high in a wide frequency range. In our case such composites are rst of all the ones comprising fullerene
carbon black and Printex XE-2B. Noteworthy is
the fact that in the entire frequency range studied
(112 GHz) electromagnetic shielding eectiveness
values for the composites comprising fullerene
carbon black are within the 1913 dB range. Up to
10 GHz those values are within the 1915 dB range.
According to Zhang20 the target value of EMI

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Al-Hartomy et al.

173

shielding eectiveness for commercial applications is

in the 1020 dB range because with a shielding eectiveness of 1020 dB a sample can block 9099% of the
incident electromagnetic signals.
The explanation of the eects observed under all
other identical conditions (the same elastomer matrix,
the same ller concentration, the same preparation of
the composites and their vulcanization) could be
found in the specic ller characteristics. As seen
from Table 1 the values for those parameters dier
completely. Hence, the factors determining the great
dierences in the composites properties are:
. particleparticle interactions, aggregation and
agglomeration;
. ller particles electrical conductivity and dielectric
permittivity;
. particle surface morphology and roughness;
. specic surface area;
. surface free energy.

Particleparticle
interactions,
aggregation
and
agglomeration. During the processing of the rubber
compound and its successive vulcanization the ller
particles are dispersed into the matrix which is subjected to shier deformations. That leads to redistribution of ller particles which yields agglomerates and
conductive chains. Their formation and destruction is
a dynamic process strongly dependant on the ller
specic features. When the matrix, the surface tension
and viscosity are the same, DBP and iodine adsorption reveal the proneness of ller to llerller and
elastomerller interactions. It is obvious from the
data in Table 1 that Printex XE-2B possesses the
most favorable characteristics amongst all other
carbon black. The comparison of those data and the
results presented in Figures 3 and 4 demonstrates that
the dielectric properties (dielectric permittivity and the
dielectric loss angle tangent) are strongly dependent
on those factors. The parameters values are the highest for the composites comprising Printex XE-2B and
the lowest for the composites comprising Corax N220.
This dependence is less pronounced as far as the
microwave properties are concerned (Figures 5 to 7).
Formation of ller networks (related to particle
particle interactions21) is responsible for many
important eects in polymers processing and their
future applications (electrical conductivity, attenuation of electromagnetic waves and EMI shielding
eectiveness). The mean particle spacing is also an
important characteristic for composites microwave
properties, especially for the attenuation, because it
inuences the interaction of a composite with microwaves. It can be calculated using the following
equation10


s k1=3  1 d

where s is the interparticle spacing; k, the constant; d,

the particle diameter; , the volume fraction. In this
equation the coecient k depends on the particle
arrangements.10 As seen from Table 1 and equation
(8) each of the llers used will have a dierent mean
particle spacing predetermined by the dierent particle diameter and arrangement. Hence, they will
dier in any property dependent on the said factor.
The even distribution of the ller, and the small interparticle spacing homogeneity of the composite are of
special importance for aording good attenuation. On
the other hand, the aggregates and their structure of
each type of carbon black are also very important
morphological features. The aggregate of carbon
black is a cluster of primary particles, which are
fused together and can be separated only by extensive
mechanical forces which seldom exist in typical
mixing operations. The aggregates can be quantied
by the size of the primary particles, the number of
primary particles in the aggregate, and their geometrical arrangement in the aggregate.10,22 The above
characteristics are dierent for each carbon black
investigated.
As much as the application of carbon black is
related to its morphology, its structure relates to composite properties, especially electrical and microwave
ones.
Agglomeration is also a result of particleparticle
interactions. The tendency of the llers used to
agglomerate is very dierent. van der Waals forces
are primarily responsible for llers agglomeration
during processing. These forces are especially important during the dispersion of llers and have a signicant eect on the composites electrical and microwave
properties.23
The tendency for agglomeration may be given by
the following equation10
P
Bi
T a Pi 4 1
j Ej

where Ta is the tendency to agglomerate; Bi, the binding forces; and Ej, the environment forces.
This equation shows the forces that cause agglomeration and deagglomeration. The forces causing
adhesion between particles can be grouped as follows:
bridging, adhesion, attraction forces (van der Waals,
hydrogen bending, electrostatic and magnetic), interfacial forces. Dispersion of carbon black, especially
that having very ne particles, is dicult.
Agglomeration, depending on the type of mechanism, includes participation of aggregates, which can
be weakly bonded or have very strong bonds. The
dierences in agglomeration are related to particle
size, type of surface, chemical groups available on
the surface, eect of surface treatment, method of
ller production, etc. Several processes benet from
agglomeration. The properties negatively aected by
agglomerationand depending on ecient break up of

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Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 227(2)

the agglomerates include attenuation and electromagnetic wave shielding eectiveness. That explains the
dierent attenuation values for the composites as
due to the dierent elemental ller particles size and
the non-uniform proneness to form aggregates and
agglomerates (Figure 5). Printex XE-2B has the smallest particle size and is the most prone to agglomeration, while the particles of fullerene carbonblack are
the largest and that is the ller which the least prone
to agglomeration. The composites comprising Printex
XE-2B have attenuation values better than those for
the fullerene and other carbon black lled composites
due to the more stable aggregates of the llers
mentioned.
According to equation (4) the changes in the
composites attenuation values aect the electromagnetic shielding eectiveness of those materials
(Figure 7).
Filler particle electrical conductivity and dielectric
permittivity. As shown in Sang et al.24 the electrical
conductivity and dielectric permittivity at direct current and at a concentration of the electroconductive
ller Vf above the current threshold (Vf ) can be
presented by the equations

t
  Vf  Vf

10


s
"0  Vf  Vf

11

where t and s are dierent indexes. The current

threshold Vf depends on the rubber matrixller
interaction energy, on the size and shape of the conductive particles and on the structure of the conductive paths. Those characteristics are dierent for each
of the llers. Therefore the composites comprising
the said llers have dierent electromagnetic
properties.
According to Tromov et al.25 the complex dielectric permittivity of the composite ("0 ) is presented by
the dielectric permittivity of the rubber matrix "m and
that of the ller "f as follows
  1=3
"  "m "f

Vf
"f  "m "

12

The dierence in the dielectric properties of the

rubber matrix and ller causes another relaxation process in the system, namely, the interface polarization.
The charges at the interface boundary are prone to
increase the dielectric permittivity of the composite
and to decrease its electroconductivity. Since the
charge redistribution in the electric eld is not an
instant process, the eective dielectric permittivity of
the composite depends on the specic characteristics
of the ller (besides on the frequency of the electric
eld).

Particle surface morphology and roughness. There were

dierent models of carbon black primary particles.26
The most recent model developed by Hets, Ban and
Heidenreich is commonly accepted to be characteristic of carbon black particles.26 Some authors27 indicate that the core of the particle is less dense and
lled with voids but organized in such a way that
graphitic scales available on the surface make it
rough. This surface roughness is important for the
formation of forces between the ller and matrix.
The surface roughness of carbon black increases
interfacial adhesion with the matrix.28 This parameter is also dierent for the each type of carbon
black used in our investigation butit turns out that
it is not a determining factor in achieving good
microwave properties (Figures 5 and 6).
Specific surface area. Specic surface area, related to
the particle size is a very important parameter
(the ner the particles, the higher is the specic surface area). The types of carbon black used are
very dierent in their specic surface area as seen
from Table 1.
However, the investigation results show that eective llers are not of a great importance for achieving
good microwave properties as it is in the case of
elastomers reinforcement where the specic surface
area is a major factor. The composites comprising
llers of high specic surface area have high electromagnetic wave reection values and vice versa those
composites comprising llers of the lowest specic
surface area possess the highest coecient of electromagnetic wave shielding eectiveness.
Surface free energy. The surface free energy of a carbon
black particle can be expressed as a sum of the dispersive and specic components10
s sd ssp

13

where sd is the dispersive component of surface free

energy; ssp , the specic component of surface free
energy.
The dispersive component is associated with elastomercarbon black interactions while the specic component is associated with ller networking and
agglomeration. These components are dierent for
the various kinds of llers used in our investigation.
The dispersive component sd of the carbon black used
varies in the 40120 mJ/m2 range.22,29
The particles having a high surface energy andtending to agglomerate are very hard to disperse in rubber
matrix and change the microwave properties of the
composite. In that sense the composites comprising
carbon black of lower surface energy provide better
electromagnetic wave shielding eectiveness compared to that achieved with llers of higher surface
energy (Figure 7).

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Al-Hartomy et al.

175

Conclusions
The eect of specic characteristics of four completely
dierent carbon black types upon the dielectric and
microwave properties of natural rubber based composites (lled at 10 phr) has been established
experimentally.
It has been found that the proneness of carbon
black particles to interact, aggregate and agglomerate
aects much more the dielectric properties of the composites than their microwave ones. The composites
lled with carbon black of the highest oil number
posses the highest values of dielectric permittivity
and dielectric loss angle tangent. The said values are
the lowest for the composites lled with carbon black
of the lowest oil number.
The proneness of carbon black particles to form
chains, aggregates and agglomerates aects unfavorably the microwave properties of the composite thus
lled because that proneness eliminates the key mechanism of creating electromagnetically active materials,
namely, the discrete and regular distribution of the
conductive phase into the elastomer matrix and the
complete insulation of the particles.
Fullerene carbon black having the lowest specic
surface area and proneness to aggregate and agglomerate yields good microwave properties of the
composites, especially good is the composites electromagnetic wave shielding eectiveness produced in a
wide frequency range. In that case the llerller
and elastomerller interactions, as well as the
carbon black proneness to aggregate and agglomerate
are slightly pronounced. In fact this ller aords the
best desired combination of good attenuation and low
reection of electromagnetic waves.
In the case of elastomer reinforcement good mechanical properties are achieved by the high specic surface area of the ller, small particles size, respectively,
necessary for the occurrence of maximum elastomer
ller interactions. That is not needed for obtaining
composites with good microwave properties. In the
case the important factors are the good insulation of
the conductive phase and its low proneness to form
secondary structures. All that requires high free surface energy of the conductive phase. That means the
requirements that the ller should meet for achieving
good microwave properties of the composites are
much dierent, even contradictory to a certain
extent to those for attaining good enforcement and
mechanical properties.
The study demonstrates that the dielectric and
microwave properties of rubber composites can be
tailored via an appropriate selection of ller which
specic chemical nature and structure are capable of
yielding the parameters required for the particular
applications.
Acknowledgement
The present research is a result of an international collaboration program between the University of Tabuk,

71491Tabuk, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the

University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, Soa,
Bulgaria. The authors gratefully acknowledge the nancial
support from the University of Tabuk.

Funding
This work was supported under Grant number 2244/2011.

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