Partial Discharge Characteristics of Natural Rubber Blends with Inorganic Nanofiller as Electrical Insulating Material

Abstract

In electrical engineering, electrical discharge can occur in gaseous, liquid or solid insulating medium. Localized dielectric breakdown that occur at a small portion of a solid or fluid electrical insulation under high voltage stress is called partial discharge (PD). This phenomenon can cause the material to breakdown if there is no proper action taken. Usually it begins within voids, cracks, or inclusions within a solid dielectric, at conductor-dielectric interfaces within solid and in bubbles within liquid dielectrics. In order to modify electrical properties of the original structure then nanocomposite need to be introduced. Nanocomposite is the original structure that has been inserted by nano component (nanofiller) such as silicone dioxide and titanium dioxide. Nanocomposites are also found in nature, for example in the structure of the abalone shell and bone. By adding nano component inside the original component, it can change the mechanical and electric properties. In this study, PD characteristics of polymer-natural rubber blends nanocomposite have been investigated. The samples of nanocomposites were developed by using extrusion method. The high voltage is applied at the electrode arrangement of the test sample. The signals of partial discharges are detected by CIGRE Method II and RC detector and the signals are transferred to the personal computer using LabViewTM software. The result from the software is analyzed to find out the PD characteristics. The results revealed that the highest PD numbers are compositions with no filler while the lowest PD numbers come from sample that use 4% SiO2 as its nanofiller. The physical morphology observation is also conducted to investigate the degradation of the samples.