Low temperature magneto-conductivity properties of microsized Ag/HD-PE metal/polymers

A composite material of a polyethylene matrix filled by a fine silver powder was prepared with different Ag contents and physical behaviours ranging from insulator to conductor. Ac differential magnetic susceptibility chi measurements show the samples are paramagnetic up to an Ag concentration of similar to 65%. At low temperatures the composite is spin-glass type, whereas the transition from insulator to conductor corresponds to an abatement of chi at zero magnetizing field. Magneto-conductivity effects have been observed in resistivity measurements at low temperatures. They can be explained in terms of an effective exchange electronic scattering mechanism between the conduction electrons and the diluted magnetic moments arising from unpaired electron spins of boundary silver particles. Moreover, the presence of a broad minimum in the resistivity curve at T =similar to 20 K, observed in samples with an Ag concentration just above the percolation threshold, addresses to possible interference effects similar to those reported in disordered materials.