Enhancement of dielectric strength in nanocomposites

Abstract

In this paper, we report the dielectric breakdown properties of a nanocomposite, a potential electrical insulation material for cryogenic high voltage applications. The material is composed of a high molecular weight polyvinyl alcohol and nanosized in situ synthesized titanate particles. The dielectric breakdown strengths of the filled material samples, measured in liquid nitrogen, indicate a significant increase in their strengths as compared to unfilled polyvinyl alcohol. We conclude that nanometre-sized particles can be adopted as a voltage stabilization additive.

Electrical and Mechanical Properties of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticle Filled Epoxy Resin Composites

“…The keystone for tailoring the structure-property of these composites is to understand the effect of the fillers in the electrical, thermal and mechanical properties of the samples. Towards this direction several investigations have been performed on different polymer matrices and filler types and geometries [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Unambiguously, the dispersion of the fillers is intrinsically related to the performance of the nanocomposites.…”

Epoxy nanodielectrics fabricated within situandex situtechniques

“…Recent investigations on composites have shown that the electrical insulation reliability of composites fabricated with nanoparticles (nanodielectrics) is better than that of unfilled matrix materials or composites fabricated with micrometre-size particles [1][2][3][4][5][6]. These new materials have potential for fusion energy and low-temperature power applications, where superconducting wires are employed, since the number of commercially available structural composites with good electrical insulation properties are few [7,8].…”

“…In conventional polymeric composites for electrical insulation, addition of micrometre size particles degrade dielectric performance of the insulation compared to unfilled polymer. However, no degradation in electrical properties, such as dielectric breakdown, with respect to time and electrical aging of electrical insulation properties has been observed in nanodielectrics for conventional applications [1] and for cryogenic applications [3,[8][9][10]. Although it is clear that nanoparticles influence the dielectric performance, yet no detailed analysis has been performed on the particle size to breakdown strength statistics.…”

“…To produce well-dispersed particles or to improve the dispersion, twin-screw extruders and high-power horn sonicators are employed for polymers with no-volatile content and within diluted solutions, respectively. Later, due to problems experienced in this ex situ approach (particles were not mixed uniformly), other methods were developed based on nanoparticle synthesis and in situ particle precipitation procedures [3,8,[13][14][15] -in situ nanoparticle synthesised polymeric nanocomposites [3,9].…”

“…The nanocomposite was fabricated as follows, which is similar to the method described by Tuncer et al [3]. The Araldite Õ resin was diluted with methanol (MeOH), and titanium trichloride (TiCl 3 ) MeOH precursor was added in a weight ratio w resin : w TiCl 3 ¼ 11:5 -this results in 2.5 wt% rutile TiO 2 in the nanocomposite.…”