Short-Term Breakdown in Silicone Rubber Based Nanocomposites Caused by Electrical Treeing

This paper presents experimental study on short-term breakdown of silicone rubber based nanocomposites with different silicone dioxide (SiO2) nanofiller loading by focusing on the effect of electrical tree. The objective of this study was to investigate the ability of SiO2 nanofiller to inhibit the growth of electrical tree in silicone rubber until breakdown. Samples of silicone rubber based nanocomposites (three samples were filled with 1wt%, 2wt% and 3wt% of SiO2 respectively whereas the forth sample was unfilled silicone rubber), were used in this experimental study and two parameters such as electrical tree initiation voltage and breakdown time were measured. Based on the obtained results, the sample with the highest SiO2 loading has shown the highest tree initiation voltage and the longest breakdown time. Therefore, this makes SiO2 a promising material to be used as fillers in polymeric insulations for the purpose of retarding electrical tree growth.