-@-- ELECTROCHEMICAL SOCIETY REVIEWS AND NEWS SEPTEMBER 1~8 Polymers: Their Structure and Dielectric Properties

Polymers, with their high molecular weight and great lengths vs. rela-tively small diameters, tend to have very complex physical nd dielectric properties. The dielectric properties, like the mechanical properties, are dependent on the mobility of their constituent parts and are therefore quite sensitive to both temperature and frequency. The effects of glass transition temperature, melting point, impurities, and atomic structure on the dielec-tric properties are discussed with specific examples from the literature. Conduction and breakdown are covered rather briefly with emphasis on the need for fundamental structural studies in this area. Polymers may be simply defined as very high vis-cosity liquids or solids of intermediate or high molecular weight (1). They are made by the chemical union of large numbers of small molecules (mono-mers) to form a macromolecule. Two general method