ABSTRACT
ELIZABETH F. DE SOUZA,1 MÀRCIA MARIA RIPPEL,2 AMAURI JOSÉ KESLAREK,2 ANDRÉ GALEMBECK,2 CARLOS ALBERTO RODRIGUES COSTA,2 ÉRICO TEIXEIRA NETO2 and FERNANDO GALEMBECK2 * 1 Instituto de Ciendas Biologicas e Quimica, Pontificia Universidade Católica de Campinas - PUC-Campinas, PO Box 1111, CEP 13020-904, Campinas - SP, Brazil 2Instituto de Quimica, Universidade Estadual de Campinas - UNICAMP, PO Box 6154, CEP 13083-970, Campinas - SP, Brazil
1. INTRODUCTION
Polymer surface properties are closely related to the performance o f these materi als in areas o f adhesion and coating, biocompatibility, and contamination [1]. Polyolefins and related thermoplastics are often used as dielectrics and they have a strong ability to acquire electrical static charges especially at their surfaces. Many other important problems are related to the presence o f electric charges in
dielectrics, such as: electret formation, space and residual charges, double-layer formation at interfaces, and interfacial polarization [2].
