Dielectric properties of natural ester based nanofluid

Abstract

In this paper, AC breakdown and standard impulse breakdown characteristics of natural ester oil and natural ester base nano fluids are investigated. Three types of nanoparticles such as Zinc oxide (ZnO), Barium titanate (BaTiO 3 ), and Titanium dioxide (TiO2) which have their diameter less than 100 nm are used to prepare the nanofluid samples which consist of the natural ester mixed with 0.01% volume fraction of each nanoparticle type. To measure AC breakdown voltage of the natural ester and natural ester based nanofluids, the oil breakdown tester (FOSTER OTS 60AF) is employed by sphere-sphere electrode system according to IEC 60156. The gap distance between electrodes is set at 2.5 mm. Furthermore, the needle-sphere electrode configuration with gap spacing of 40 mm is used for impulse breakdown voltage investigation of the dielectric liquids by the needle is tungsten and 40 μm tip radius. The test circuit is set up in accordance with IEC 60897 and the test experiment is conducted at room temperature. The test results show that the AC breakdown voltages of the natural ester with nanopaticles is markedly higher than those of the unmodified natural ester. Additionally, TiO 2 , BaTiO 3 , and ZnO nanoparticles show their properties to increase impulse breakdown voltages of the nanofluids compared with those of the unmodified natural ester. From the test results, it is found that nanoparticles are good candidates to enhance the dielectric properties of natural ester for dielectric applications.