Electrical conduction and polarization in cellulose in relation toits water content

摘要

The electrical properties of native and mercerized cellulose arecompared. The DC conductivity, complex dielectric constant in thefrequency range from 0.1 Hz to 10 MHz, and piezoelectric constant havebeen measured for native and mercerized samples as functions of watercontent. The dielectric increment Δε of the mercerizedsample, as obtained from Cole-Cole plots, is more than twice as large asthat of native cellulose. This is attributed to the fact that bymercerization, chains in the amorphous phase are more regularly packed,and the correlation length for orientation of OH groups increases,resulting in an increase of Δε. In addition, a smallerpiezoelectric constant is indicated for the mercerized sample