Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide-Filled Polystyrene as a Dielectric Material Rosalin Abraham, 1,2 Soosy Kuryan, 3 Jayakumari Isac, 4 Ajesh K. Zacharia, 5 Sabu Thomas 2 1 Department of Physics, St. Dominics College, Kanjirapally, Kottayam, Kerala 686512, India 2 Centre for Nanoscience, Nanotechnology Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala 686560, India 3 Department of Physics, St Stephen’s College, Kollam, Kerala, India 4 Department of Physics, CMS College, Kottayam, Kerala, India 5 School of Chemical Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala 686560, India Received 31 May 2010; accepted 12 September 2010 DOI 10.1002/app.33426 Published online 10 December 2010 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). ABSTRACT: Electrical impedance measurements are car- ried out on high temperature superconducting ceramic Yt- trium Barium Copper Oxide (YBCO)–Polystyrene (PS) composite materials, in which superconducting particles are embedded in polystyrene matrix. The results of imped- ance versus frequency (100 Hz–13 MHz), phase angle versus temperature for volume percentage of supercon- ductor (0–40%) are presented. No marked transition in phase angle is observed when the material goes through the superconducting transition temperature of the filler. The dielectric constant and losses increase with increas- ing YBCO content. However the increase in losses is modest and the excellent dielectric properties of the composites are not adversely affected. The system con- forms to Clausius-Mossotti equation. Dipole moment of YBCO particles and polarizability of the composites are calculated using the Clausius-Mossotti approaches. V C 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 120: 2233– 2241, 2011 Key words: composites; modeling; dielectric properties; Claussis Mossotti equations; polystyrene INTRODUCTION Hard, brittle, high temperature superconducting ceramics can be incorporated into polymer matri- ces 1,2 for preparing composite materials with supe- rior mechanical properties, greater processability, and flexibility. They can be easily molded into vari- ous useful shapes by versatile polymer processing techniques such as compression, extrusion, and injection molding. In particular, the composites, in which superconducting ceramic powders embedded in polymer matrices with (0-3) connectivity, are extremely flexible. The practical application of high temperature superconductors for electronic applications required the development of novel processes and devices. The development of capacitors that are compatible with superconducting and manufacturing materials capable of high frequency operations will be required for integrated devices and that can be pre- pared by the suitable inclusion of high temperature superconducting materials with polymers. When polymeric materials serve for practical uses, they are commonly mixed with other materials to achieve desired performances. Dielectric and con- ductive properties can be controlled over a broad range by ceramic inclusions. 3 It is important to study the ‘‘AC’’ electrical properties of these new materi- als, which would give information about their microstructure, composite dielectric behavior, fre- quency, and temperature dependence. In our previous paper a detailed study of the me- chanical properties of the aforementioned compo- sites are reported. 4 The pace of research on thermal and dielectric properties of heterogeneous materials has accelerated in recent years. This is because elec- tronics packaging has continuously provided the im- petus pushing in the development of new materials in a fascinating and rich variety of applications. 5 In this article, we report a study on the dielectric prop- erties of Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide (YBCO)– Polystyrene (PS) composites. Dielectric mixing laws are examined for the composites consisting of super- conductor ceramic particles (YBCO) dispersed in the (PS) matrix with (0-3) connectivity. Clausius-Mos- sotti approximation is one of the most commonly used equations for calculating the bulk dielectric properties of inhomogeneous materials. It is useful when one of the components can be considered as a host in which inclusions of the other components are embedded. It involves an exact calculation of the Correspondence to: S. Thomas (sabuchathukulam@yahoo. co.uk or sabupolymer@yahoo.com). Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol. 120, 2233–2241 (2011) V C 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.