Long-term and Short-term AC Treeing Breakdown of Epoxy/Micro-Silica/Nano-Silicate Composite in Needle-Plate Electrodes

In order to characterize insulation properties of epoxy/micro-silica/nano-silicate composite (EMNC), long-term and short-term AC treeing tests were carried out undr non-uniform electric field generated between needle-plate electrodes. In a long-term test, a 10 kV (60 Hz) electrical field was applied to the specimen positioned between the electrodes with a distance of 2.7 mm in an insulating oil bath at $30^{\circ}C$, and a typical branch type electrical tree was observed in the neat epoxy resin and breakdown took place at 1,042 min after applying the 10 kVelectrical field. Meanwhile, the spherical tree with the tree length of $237{\mu}m$ was seen in EMNC-65-0.3 at 52,380 min (36.4 day) and then the test was stopped because the tree propagation rate was too low. In the short-term test, an electrial field was applied to a 3.5 mm-thick specimen at an increasing voltage rate of 0.5 kV/s until breakdown in insulating oil bath at $30^{\circ}C$ and $130^{\circ}C$, and the data was estimated by Weibull statistical analysis. The electrical insulation breakdown strength for neat epoxy resin was 1,763 kV/mm at $30^{\circ}C$, while that for EMNC-65-0.3 was 2,604 kV/mm, which was a modified value of 47%. As was expected, the breakdown strength decreased at higher test temperatures.