Investigation of the dielectric relaxation and the transport properties of porous silicates containing humidity

The dielectric relaxation responses of pelite, which is a porous silicate sediment containing a low content of inherent humidity, were identified and characterized by employing the experimental scheme of the thermally stimulated depolarization current (TSDC) spectroscopy. Comparative experiments were performed on dry samples. The elementary responses that compose the dielectric spectrum were recorded by applying certain sampling techniques. The dielectric relaxation spectrum consists of two low-temperature mechanisms, which are related to different modes of relaxation of water molecules. A third one is probably produced by permanent dipoles consisting of point defects in the calcium participant. Three relaxation mechanisms were sampled within the intermediate temperature region and were strongly affected by the outgassing of the pore network. They correspond to polarization processes occurring in the multi-layer shell of humidity over the surface the solid aggregates. At higher temperatures, two mechanisms were traced: the first is related to the homogeneous polarization of the specimen as charge carriers migrate within conducting territories until they are trapped at internal boundaries and the latter is described as a long-distance conduction mechanism which is enhanced by the presence of humidity. The activation energy profiles of the above-mentioned relaxation mechanisms were obtained from the analysis of the experimental signals of the thermal sampling and the partial heating schemes.