High Mechanical and Thermal Performance of Insulating Paper Cellulose Modified with Appropriate h‐BN Doping Amount: A Molecular Simulation Study

Abstract

With the improvement of operation requirements of power equipment, the stable operation of insulation of equipment is very important. Among them, insulating paper is one of the main factors affecting the state of equipment. Therefore, it is important to improve the performance of insulating paper. The pure cellulose model and h‐BN/cellulose composite model are established to analyze the improvement of thermal and mechanical properties of insulating paper cellulose. The effects of different contents of h‐BN doping on the properties of cellulose are studied by comparing the mechanical parameters, cohesive energy density, thermal conductivity, mean square displacement, and free volume of cellulose before and after h‐BN doping through molecular dynamics method. The results indicate that the thermal conductivity and thermal stability of cellulose are improved by more than 15% at the h‐BN mass fraction of 2% and 3%, the shear modulus and elastic modulus are enhanced by more than 50%, and the deformation resistance and ductility of the composites are enhanced when the mass fraction of h‐BN is 2%. The doping of h‐BN has an important impact on improving the thermodynamic properties of cellulose, which is of great significance to improving the insulation performance of power equipment and reducing equipment faults.