Abstract
The recycling process toward the elimination of varistor wastes into new electro-active silicon composites has been investigated. We studied the dependence of the E-J characteristics on the aggregate content in the polymer matrix. Formulations with 40 vol.% metal oxide varistor aggregates in the 100-200m range exhibit reliable nonlinear behavior with a switching voltage of 280 +/- 30V/mm. The breakdown voltage of the composite decreases as both filler's diameter and filler's volume fraction increases in the 550-220V/mm and 440-280V/mm range, respectively. This paves the way for the valorization of varistors based zinc oxide (ZnO) ceramics.