Microwave non-destructing testing of rubber at X-band

Abstract

In this paper, the measurement of complex dielectric constant of natural rubber at microwave frequencies is reported. A free space, non-destructive technique was used to measure the parameter for several rubber samples at X band. The samples were prepared using different amounts of carbon filler to alter the dielectric properties so that the relation between filler content and ε <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">r</sub> can be investigated. Our studies show that ε <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">r</sub> and tan δ increase with the filler content. In addition, ε <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">r</sub> showed a decreasing trend, while tan δ increased with frequency.