A Comparative Study of Dielectric Strength between SiR/EPDM and PP/EPDM Blends with Various Type of Nanofillers

Abstract

This paper focused on studying the effect of addition of Al2O3, TiO2and BN nanofillers on dielectric strength of nanocomposite material. There are two types of polymer blends used in this project which are silicone rubber/EPDM and PP/EPDM blends. Nanocomposites samples was blended at 50:50 ratios and developed by compounding with and without 5 wt% concentration of Al2O3, TiO2, and BN. The results are compared based on performance in dielectric properties of each types of polymer blends. From the weibull probability plot, PP/EPDM blend with nanofillers shows the higher dielectic strength compared to the SiR/EPDM blends. From the average value of electric field strength, it was found that the value of electric field strengths for PP/EPDM/Al2O3,PP/EPDM, PP/EPDM/TiO2and PP/EPDM/BN were 42.76kV/mm, 38.44 kV/mm and 32.93 kV/mm respectively. The results for SiR/EPDM with addition of Al2O3, TiO2and BN are 37.43kV/mm 34.04kV/mm and 29.73kV/mm respectively. It was found that PP/EPDM blend gives better results for dielectric properties compared to SiR/EPDM blend.