As part of a study to determine which of the types of products that may be formed by the service degradation of insulating oils cause serious dielectric losses in insulating oils at 60 cycles and which do not, properties of systems composed of liquid paraffin and a cupric or lead soap of the following acids have been investigated: 1,10-hydroxystearic, stearic, palmitic, myristic, lauric, capric, pelargonio, caprylic, cyclohexanecarboxylic, undecylenic, erucic, and abietic acids. In the preparation of these soaps, some of which were crystalline, possible adsorption of alkali ions was avoided by treating the acetates with the above acids rather than with their alkali soaps.Most of the systems containing lead soaps, in concentrations of 0.15 per cent by weight, became cloudy as they were being cooled. At temperatures immediately above the point of separation, the systems had high power factors and dielectric constants.Certain mixtures of lead soaps set to translucent gels or greases on cooling.The systems containing cupric soaps of individual acids had low power factors and conductivities at all temperatures, including those near which the soaps separated from solution. Systems containing mixed soaps, prepared from cupric abietate and certain acids or other soaps, however, had high power factors, conductivities, and dielectric constants at certain temperatures, even though these systems did not become cloudy on cooling. The dielectric properties of the systems are believed to be related to the state of dispersion of the soaps in the oil. THE work here described is part of an investigation to determine which of the types of products that may be formed by the serviced degradation of insulating oils cause serious dielectric losses in insulating oils at 60 cycles, and which do not. The types of deterioration products considered in this paper are certain lead and copper soaps.
