Thermogravimetric and dynamic mechanical behavior of extruded and injection molded polypropylene (PP) samples with additives and varying volume fractions (0, 4.5, 14, 21, and 39 vol%) of soft magnetic iron silicon (FeSi) particles with a mean particle diameter of 58 mm were analyzed. With increasing filler volume fraction, thermogravimetry shows enhanced thermal stability of PP. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) was performed at temperatures between 200 and 400 K at discrete vibrating frequencies between 10 À1 and 10 1 Hz. Loss factor tan of all examined materials shows typical peaks (, 0 and ) of phase transitions in the crystalline and amorphous polymer structure of PP in this temperature range. Storage modulus E 0 at 200 K starts at 2283 MPa for PP with additives (stabilizers, antioxidants, lubricants, desactivators, and surface activators) and increases up to 7175 MPa for 39 vol% iron silicon fraction. The activation energy at -peak reduces with increasing filler volume fractions.

We report on our newest studies of electrically conductive interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) for application in temperature micro sensors. We manufactured polymeric structures on glass with a micro pattern generator by exposing a combination of Novolak and Terthiophene doped with copper(II) perchlorate with a UV laser. We assessed the effects of prolonged temperature loads on the structures’ impedances in a range of 30 to 130 °C. Such polymers and our approach may be of interest for the fabrication of different micro sensors, particularly when only a limited number of highly specialized sensors is required, e.g. for fire safety infrastructure.

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