1990 Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 219-226
Fine polymer particles, having large surface-to-volume ratio, exhibit particular behavior under triboelectricity because they are controlled by the Coulombic force rathe than by qravity. This property is applied in various industrial areas such as electric photography. However, the effects of chemical composition, surface condition, particle size, and particle shape on the triboelectric properties have not beer so clearly investigated.
In this study, several kinds of polymer microspheres, almost uniform in size, were prepared by suspension polymerization. They were charged by friction with ferrite spheres to study the effect of physical properties of polymer microspheres on their triboelectricty.
The following results were obtained.
(1) The electrostatic capacities increased with decreasing particle size. Such tendency is consistent with Schaffer's empirical equation.
(2) The electrostatic capacities increased with increasing cross-linking sites and molecular weight of polymer microspheres.
(3) The functional groups of the polymer microsphere strongly affected the electrostatic capacity. Higher electrostatic capacities were obtained for polymer microspheres having stronger polarity.
