# Silicon Effect on Conductive Behavior in Rubber Recycled Composites

## TL;DR

This study examines how adding silicon dioxide affects the electrical properties of rubber composites, finding that it makes them more insulating.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is identifying silica's role in modifying dielectric behavior without significantly altering conductivity in rubber composites.

## Key findings

- Silica addition reduces polarization effects and modifies dielectric behavior in rubber composites.
- SiO2 makes the compounds more insulating, which could be useful for electrical insulation purposes.
- The conductive behavior remains largely unchanged despite changes in permittivity and electrical modulus.

## Abstract

In the present research, the structure and thermal–dielectric behavior of Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) and of the SBR/EPDMd composite with SiO2 with different compositions and concentrations of EPDMd are analyzed. In this sense, interesting behaviors are observed for the DC-AC regime of the conductive behavior of the material; therefore, a very marked DC and AC regime is observed in the conductivities, showing a different dielectric behavior at low and high frequencies. On the other hand, peak relaxations due to polarization phenomena are observed in terms of the imaginary modulus. Conductively, SiO2 does not produce significant or relevant changes, but it does produce changes in the permittivity and the electrical modulus, so it is concluded that the impact of the incorporation of SiO2 in these compounds affects energy storage (permittivity and modulus) in these types of compounds. Compared with compounds without silica (insights—no SiO2), it is observed that SiO2 maintains a similar operating regime to the initial one (SBR and SBR + EPDMd + SiO2) without SiO2 dielectric changes occurring, so silica presence modifies the dielectric behavior, reducing polarization effects, as can be seen in the dielectric results. Conductively, SiO2 produces more insulating compounds, that is, less conductive; this property can make it interesting as electrical insulation.