Abstract
This paper investigates the effect of ground and fumed silica fillers on suppressing DC erosion in silicone rubber. Fumed silica and ground silica fillers are incorporated in silicone rubber at different loading levels and comparatively analyzed in this study. Outcomes of the +DC inclined plane tracking erosion test indicate a better erosion performance for the fumed silica filled composite despite having a lower thermal conductivity compared to the ground silica composite. Results of the simultaneous thermogravimetric and thermal differential analyses are correlated with inclined plane tracking erosion test outcomes suggesting that fumed silica suppresses depolymerization and promotes radical based crosslinking in silicone rubber. This finding is evident as higher residue is obtained with the fumed silica filler despite being filled at a significantly lower loading level compared to ground silica. The surface residue morphology obtained, and the roughness determined for the tested samples of the composites in the dry-arc resistance test indicate the formation of a coherent residue with the fumed silica filled composite. Such coherent residue could act as a barrier to shield the unaffected material underneath the damaged surface during dry-band arcing, thereby preventing progressive erosion. The outcomes of this study suggest a significant role for fumed silica promoting more interactions with silicone rubber to suppress DC erosion compared to ground silica fillers.
Highlights
With the rising awareness of the impacts of fossil fuel-based electricity generation on climate change, solutions for integrating renewable energy sources into the existing electric grid infrastructure have been investigated
The outcomes show that the FS07 filled Silicone rubber (SiR) had a better or comparable erosion performance to the GS10 filled SiR, despite being filled at one sixth of the filler loading level of the GS10 filled SiR. This highlights a significant role for fumed silica in suppressing erosion and potentially facilitates its use as a co-filler with ground silica in practical formulations of SiR composites of high filler loadings that could be used in industry
The presented paper illustrated the role of fumed silica and ground silica fillers in suppressing the DC erosion of SiR through a novel framework
Summary
With the rising awareness of the impacts of fossil fuel-based electricity generation on climate change, solutions for integrating renewable energy sources into the existing electric grid infrastructure have been investigated. Utilizing a high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system would facilitate such integration by enabling an efficient transmission of electric power over long distances from remote renewable energy sources such as hydro, wind and solar farms to load centers [1,2]. HVDC outdoor insulators should be designed to ensure the reliability of the power transmission system. Silicone rubber’s (SiR) characteristic hydrophobicity makes it highly desirable for use as a housing material in polymeric outdoor insulators. SiR, is susceptible to erosion caused by dry-band arcs sustained under heavily polluted conditions. Incorporating silica fillers in composite formulations of SiR was considered for enhancing the thermal conductivity and, in turn, the erosion performance of SiR
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