Innovative materials for telecommunication application

Innovative Dielectric Materials
Dielectric materials are insulator at low electromagnetic field, but at microwave frequency they show important properties described by the dielectric constant  ε _r (two examples are. the air, with ε _r =1 and the water, with  ε _r =80).

Ceramic material samples

a) Ceramic Materials
The ceramic dielectric materials allow the highest electrical insulation (dielectric breakdown) and the highest values of ε _r ; for instance, TiO ₂ and CaTiO ₃ have, respectively, 104 and 175; SrTiO ₃ even reach 300.

Innovative and proprietary techniques of synthesis and processing have been set at the Pirelli Labs.

Composite material samples

b) Polymeric Composite Materials
Dielectric composite materials have being prepared mixing ceramic powders and polymer pellets, in an extruder, at melt temperature of said polymers.

Dielectric composites maintain mechanical properties of polymers, as plasticity, and their dielectric constant can be controlled by varying ceramic powder loading.

Ferroelectric Materials
Ferroelectric materials change some properties under application of an electric voltage.
Ceramic ferroelectric materials, as Ba _x Sr _1-x TiO ₃ , have a dielectric constant of 600, that could be increased more than about 50% varying the applied voltage.

Innovative microwave devices are based on ferroelectric materials, in order to reach high performance, versatility and miniaturization.


Superconductor Materials
Superconductivity is a physical phenomenon that some materials show when they are cooled below their critical temperature. At that temperature, superconductor materials reach zero electrical resistivity.

Some important applications are in the fields of telecommunications, fast electronic and power energy.