Abstract
Micro-sized aluminum trihydrate (ATH) filled silicone rubber is useful as insulation in the electric power system. The addition of nanofillers can improve further, its overall performance. However, the degradation of such silicone insulator due to ageing has not yet been thoroughly analysed. Motivated by this, an investigation was done to observe the effect of ageing on the tracking, and the material characteristics of SiO2 nanofillers added micro-sized ATH-filled Silicone rubber. For this, the samples were prepared using different weight percentage of SiO2 nanofillers and were thermally-aged and water-aged in the laboratory environment. A well-regulated tracking-test setup was assembled, and the leakage current characteristics of the fresh, thermal-aged and water-aged samples were observed, as per international electro technical commission standard (IEC) 60,587. After tracking, the surface morphology of these samples was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Further, energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) was carried out to observe the elements present at the surface and, Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy was conducted to study the changes in the chemical structure. Investigations through the leakage current, SEM, EDAX and FTIR revealed that the addition of nanofillers improved the tracking characteristics of the aged hybrid composite insulation samples, thereby minimising any early failures.
Highlights
Composite polymeric insulators are emerging in the transmission and distribution sector because of its superior qualities compared to conventional ceramic and glass insulators
The central core material is made up of fibre reinforced plastic (FRP), end metal fittings, and most importantly, the housing material made up polymers, such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), the most commonly used, and other polymers such as ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) and ethylene-propylene monomer (EPM) [2,3,4,5,6]
The hydrophobic is considerably affected by thermal ageing, as the surface free‐ energy decreases after giving thermal stress at a temperature of 150 °C [28]
Summary
Composite polymeric insulators are emerging in the transmission and distribution sector because of its superior qualities compared to conventional ceramic and glass insulators. They possess significant advantages, such as being lighter, more comfortable transport, excellent hydrophobic property and high resistance to tracking and erosion [1]. Due to the effects of pollution, different weathering condition and ageing, the composite polymeric insulator is susceptible to electro-thermal failure [2]. The composite polymeric insulator is made up of three components. High-temperature vulcanised (HTV) silicone rubber (SiR) having base polymer as PDMS is the most commonly used housing material in the outdoor transmission tower composite insulators [2,3]
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