The Influence of Recrystallization Regimes on Electret Charge Stability in Low-Density Polyethylene Films

The electret state stability in nonpolar semicrystalline polymers is largely determined by the traps located at crystalline/amorphous phase interfaces. Thus, the thermal history of such polymers should considerably influence their electret properties. In the present work, we investigate how recrystallization influences charge stability in low-density polyethylene corona electrets. It has been found that electret charge stability in quenched samples is higher than in slowly-crystallized ones. Phenomenologicaly, this can be explained by the increased number of deeper traps in samples with smaller crystallite size.