Dielectric behavior of wood–polystyrene composite

The dielectric phenomena for alder wood natural and modified with polystyrene were studied. Temperature dependences of the complex permittivity components of these materials were obtained for the temperature interval from 100 to 450 K at the frequencies of measuring electric field of 420 Hz, 2 kHz, and 10 kHz. The changes in structure of wood cell walls were found, detected as an increase in number of polar functional groups taking part in the relaxation processes and as a partial freezing of conformational degrees of freedom of macromolecule fragments carrying these groups. The origin of the structural changes can be the efect of wood substance swelling caused by polystyrene, which penetrates the composite cell walls.