Atmospheric pressure plasmas and direct fluorination treatment of Al2O3-filled epoxy resin: A comparison of surface charge dissipation

Abstract

In this paper, three methods, including dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) etching and deposition, and direct fluorination, were used for the surface modification of Al2O3-filled epoxy resin (Al2O3-ER) insulators to improve surface charge dissipation properties. The surface charge dissipation properties of the Al2O3-ER samples after these three treatments were compared. Firstly, the experimental results showed that DBD deposition reduced the most accumulated surface charges among the three treatments. The surface charge decay rates after DBD deposition and direct fluorination exceeded 98%. Then, the surface morphology, chemical components, and electrical parameters before and after the treatments were analyzed. Among the above three treatments, the surface roughness of the DBD deposited sample was the smallest, which facilitated the reduction of surface charge accumulation. The increase of the surface conductivity of the DBD deposited sample accelerated surface charge dissipation. Furthermore, the ageing effects of these three treatments were investigated. After five days of storage, it showed no significant difference between the dissipation properties of the DBD etched and the untreated samples due to the reorientation of polar groups towards the interface. However, there was only subtle changes in the surface charge decay rates of those DBD deposited and fluorinated samples, indicating that no obvious ageing effects were observed after DBD deposition and direct fluorination. The introduction of SiOx and C-Fn functional groups improved the anti-ageing properties of the DBD deposited and fluorinated samples, respectively. These comparative results can stimulate the development of eco-friendly plasma deposition techniques for the surface modification of Al2O3-ER insulators.