Abstract
A lot of experiments and analyses have been done to determine the aging mechanism of mica-epoxy composite material used for large generator stator windings in order to estimate remaining life of the generator for last decades. After degrading artificially the mica-epoxy composite material, the surface analysis is performed to analyze breakdown mechanism of insulation in air and hydrogen atmosphere; i) In the case of air atmosphere, it is observed that an aging propagation from conductor to core by partial discharge effect and the formation of cracks between layers is widely carbonized surface. ii) In case of hydrogen atmosphere, the partial discharge effect is reduced by the hydrogen pressure (4kg/$\textrm{cm}^2$). Potassium ions forming a sheet of mica is replaced by hydrogen ions, which can lead to microcracks. It is confirmed that the sizes of crack by SEM analysis are 10∼20[$\mu\textrm{m}$] in length under air, and 1∼5[$\mu\textrm{m}$] in diameter, 10∼50[$\mu\textrm{m}$] in length under hydrogen atmosphere respectively. The breakdown mechanism of sttor winding insulation materials which are composed of mica-epoxy is analyzed by the component of materials with EDS, SEM techniques. We concluded that the postassium ions of mica components are replaced by H\ulcorner, H$_3$O\ulcorner at boundary area of mica-epoxy and/or mica-mica. It is proposed that through these phenomena, the conductive layers of potassium enable creation of voids and cracks due to thermal, mechanical, electrical and environmental stresses.
