A custom-made semi-conducting powder for high voltage field grading applications

Abstract

In this work, a powder tailored to fulfill the required conditions for field grading of HV applications was designed using a high-energy ball milling and annealing process. Excellent results in line with requirements were found, and show that this powder can be custom-made for the intended present and future applications. The different powders introduced here are based on aluminum (Al) and boron nitride (BN) powders interacting to produce aluminum nitride (AlN) and semi-conductive aluminum boride. Conductivity characteristics similar to and/or at variance with those of SiC were observed.