scholarly journals Preparation Methods of Polypropylene/Nano-Silica/Styrene-Ethylene-Butylene-Styrene Composite and Its Effect on Electrical Properties

Polymers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingze Gao ◽  
Jiaming Yang ◽  
Hong Zhao ◽  
Hui He ◽  
Ming Hu ◽  
...  

Compared with traditional insulation materials, such as cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE), polypropylene (PP) is famous for its better recyclable and thermal properties, as well as its good electrical performance. However, the problem of poor impact strength has restricted the application of pure PP in high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) cables. In this paper, styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene block copolymer (SEBS) was used as a toughening filler, and nano-SiO2 was expected to improve the electric properties of the nano-composite. By controlling the masterbatch system, the dispersion characteristics of nano-SiO2 in the ternary composite system were changed. When PP/SiO2 was used as the masterbatch and then blended with SEBS, nano-SiO2 tended to disperse in the PP phase, and the number of nano-particles in the SEBS phase was lower. When PP/SEBS was used as the masterbatch, nano-SiO2 was distributed in both the PP phase and the SEBS phase. When SEBS/SiO2 was used as the masterbatch, nano-SiO2 tended to be dispersed in the SEBS phase. The different dispersion characteristics of nano-SiO2 changed the crystallization and mechanical properties of the ternary composite system and produced different electrical performance improvement effects. The results of our experiment revealed that the space charge suppression capability was positively correlated with the direct current (DC) breakdown strength improvement effect. Compared with the DC performance of 500 kV commercial XLPE materials, the self-made PP-based ternary composite system has better space charge suppression effects and higher DC breakdown strength. When nano-SiO2 was more dispersed in the PP phase, the space charge improvement effect was best. When the nano-SiO2 particles were more dispersed in the SEBS phase, the expected electrical property improvement was not obtained. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the nano-SiO2 particles in the SEBS phase were more dispersed at the interface than in the SEBS matrix, indicating that the nano-particles were poorly dispersed, which may be a reason why the electrical properties of the composite system were not significantly improved.

The electrical properties of the dielectric are achieved by affecting the charge transfer process. The trap characteristics have an important influence on the electrical properties of the dielectric by affecting the charge transfer process. Aggregation and trap level characteristics of nanographene on low density polyethylene (LDPE). The direct current conductivity, breakdown strength, trap level distribution, space charge distribution, and charge mobility of nanocomposites were investigated. The experimental results show that the interface region between graphene and polymer introduces many deep traps in the forbidden band of nanocomposites, which can reduce the trapping process of charge and inhibit the accumulation of space charge. This indicates that the addition of nanoscale graphene has a significant improvement in the electrical performance of high voltage DC cables, which will provide a reference for production and application.


Crystals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 481
Author(s):  
Jun-Guo Gao ◽  
Xia Li ◽  
Wen-Hua Yang ◽  
Xiao-Hong Zhang

The synergistic effects of zinc oxide (ZnO) Micro/Nano particles simultaneously filled in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) on the space charge characteristics and electrical properties has been investigated by melt blending micro-scale and nanoscale ZnO additive particles into LDPE matrix to prepare Micro-ZnO, Nano-ZnO, and Micro-Nano ZnO/LDPE composites. The morphological structures of composite samples are characterized by Polarizing Light Microscopy (PLM), and the space charge accumulations and insulation performances are correlated in the analyses with Pulse Electronic Acoustic (PEA), DC breakdown field strength, and conductance tests. It is indicated that both the micro and nano ZnO fillers can introduce plenty of heterogeneous nuclei into the LDPE matrix so as to impede the LDPE spherocrystal growth and regularize the crystalline grains in neatly-arranged morphology. By filling microparticles together with nanoparticles of ZnO additives, the space charge accumulations are significantly inhibited under an applied DC voltage and the minimum initial residual charges with the slowest charge decaying rate have been achieved after an electrode short connection. While the micro-nano ZnO/LDPE composites acquire the lowest conductivity, the breakdown strengths of the ZnO/LDPE nanocomposite and micro-nano composite are, respectively, 13.7% and 3.4% higher than that of the neat LDPE material.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 3369
Author(s):  
Xupeng Song ◽  
Xiaofeng Xue ◽  
Wen Qi ◽  
Jin Zhang ◽  
Yang Zhou ◽  
...  

In this paper, in order to improve the electrical and thermal properties of SiC/EP composites, the methods of compounding different crystalline SiC and micro-nano SiC particles are used to optimize them. Under different compound ratios, the thermal conductivity and breakdown voltage parameters of the composite material were investigated. It was found that for the SiC/EP composite materials of different crystal types of SiC, when the ratio of α and β silicon carbide is 1:1, the electrical performance of the composite material is the best, and the breakdown strength can be increased by more than 10% compared with the composite material filled with single crystal particles. For micro-nano compound SiC/EP composites, different total filling amounts of SiC correspond to different optimal ratios of micro/nano particles. At the optimal ratio, the introduction of nanoparticles can increase the breakdown strength of the composite material by more than 10%. Compared with the compound of different crystalline SiC, the advantage is that the introduction of a small amount of nanoparticles can play a strong role in enhancing the break-down field strength. For the filled composite materials, the thermal conductivity mainly depends on whether an effective heat conduction channel can be constructed. Through experiments and finite element simulation calculations, it is found that the filler shape and particle size have a greater impact on the thermal conductivity of the composite material, when the filler shape is rounder, the composite material can more effectively construct the heat conduction channel.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 4738
Author(s):  
Lijuan He ◽  
Junji Zeng ◽  
Yuewu Huang ◽  
Xiong Yang ◽  
Dawei Li ◽  
...  

Low-density polyethylene (LDPE), as an excellent dielectric insulating material, is widely used in electrical equipment insulation, whereas its low thermal conductivity limits its further development and application. Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) filler was introduced into LDPE to tailor the properties of LDPE to make it more suitable for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable insulation application. We employed melt blending to prepare h-BN/LDPE thermally conductive composite insulation materials with different contents. We focused on investigating the micromorphology and structure, thermal properties, and electrical properties of h-BN/LDPE composites, and explained the space charge characteristics. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) results indicate that the h-BN filler has good dispersibility in the LDPE at a low loading (less than 3 phr (3 g of micron h-BN particles filled in 100g of LDPE)), as well as no heterogeneous phase formation. The results of thermal conductivity analysis show that the introduction of h-BN filler can significantly improve the thermal conductivity of composites. The thermal conductivity of the composite samples with 10 phr h-BN particles is as high as 0.51 W/(m·K), which is 57% higher than that of pure LDPE. The electrical performance illustrates that h-BN filler doping can significantly inhibit space charge injection and reduce space charge accumulation in LDPE. The interface effect between h-BN and the substrate reduces the carrier mobility, thereby suppressing the injection of charges of the same polarity and increasing the direct-current (DC) breakdown strength. h-BN/LDPE composite doped with 3 phr h-BN particles has excellent space charge suppression effect and high DC breakdown strength, which is 14.3% higher than that of pure LDPE.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 2746
Author(s):  
Minhee Kim ◽  
Se-Hee Lee

In an HVDC environment, space charge accumulated in polymeric insulators causes severe electric field distortion and degradation of breakdown strength. To analyze the breakdown characteristics, here, the space charge distribution was numerically evaluated using the bipolar charge transport (BCT) model, considering the temperature gradient inside the polymeric insulator. In particular, we proposed an electro-mechanical threshold energy condition, resulting in the modified molecular chain displacement model. The temperature gradient accelerates to reduce the breakdown strength with the polarity-reversal voltage, except during the harshest condition, when the temperature of the entire polymeric insulator was 70 °C. The energy imbalance inside the insulator caused by polarity-reversal voltage reduced the breakdown strength by 82%. Finally, this numerical analysis model can be used universally to predict the breakdown strength of polymeric insulators in various environments, and help in evaluating the electrical performance of polymeric insulators.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (15) ◽  
pp. 3039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youyuan Wang ◽  
Yudong Li ◽  
Zhanxi Zhang ◽  
Yanfang Zhang

Polyethylene cables, as important transmission equipment of modern power grid, would inevitably be slightly damaged, which seriously threatens the safety of the power supply. This paper has pioneered the preparation and typical performances of a self-healing polyethylene insulating composite. The self-healing performance to structural damage was verified by tests of electrical and mechanical damage. The effect mechanism of doping microcapsules on the electrical performance of polyethylene was emphatically analyzed. The results show that in appropriate conditions (such as 60 °C/30 min), the composite can not only repair the electrical tree and scratches, but also restore the insulation strength of damaged area. The effect of doping microcapsules on the electrical performances of polyethylene, such as breakdown strength, volumetric resistivity, dielectric properties, and space charge characteristics, are mainly related to impurity and the interface of microcapsule. Polarization and ionization of impurities can reduce the electrical performance of polyethylene. The interface not only improves the microstructure of polyethylene (such as how the heterogeneous nucleation effect increases the number of crystal regions, and the anchoring effect enhances the stability of amorphous regions), but also increases the charge traps. Moreover, the microstructure and charge trap can affect the characteristics of carrier transport, material polarization, and space charge accumulation, thus improving the electrical performance of polyethylene. In addition, the important electrical performance of the composite can meet the basic application requirements of polyethylene insulating material, which has good application prospects.


Polymers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengcheng Zhang ◽  
Jianxin Chang ◽  
Hongyu Zhang ◽  
Chunyang Li ◽  
Hong Zhao

To suppress space charge accumulation and improve direct current (DC) electrical properties of insulation materials, crosslinked polyethylene modified with 2-(4-benzoyl-3-hydroxyphenoxy) ethyl acrylate (XLPE/BHEA) containing polar functional groups was prepared by melt blending. The gel content, thermal elongation, tensile strength, elongation at break, elasticity modulus, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) measurement results demonstrated that the BHEA could slightly enhance the crosslinking of polyethylene (PE) and affect the mechanical properties and crystallization of XLPE, and the BHEA molecule was not easy to precipitate from XLPE after the crosslinking process. XLPE modified with 3.0 phr (parts per hundreds by weight) BHEA could effectively suppress space charge accumulation, reduce DC conduction and improve DC breakdown strength of XLPE at a higher temperature. Deeper traps were introduced in XLPE/BHEA composites due to the polar functional groups in BHEA, which could raise the potential charge injection barrier and reduce the charge carrier number and mobility to suppress space charge accumulation and reduce the conduction current density.


Proceedings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Arash M. Shahidi ◽  
Theodore Hughes-Riley ◽  
Carlos Oliveira ◽  
Tilak Dias

Knitted electrodes are a key component to many electronic textiles including sensing devices, such as pressure sensors and heart rate monitors; therefore, it is essential to assess the electrical performance of these knitted electrodes under different mechanical loads to understand their performance during use. The electrical properties of the electrodes could change while deforming, due to an applied load, which could occur in the uniaxial direction (while stretched) or multiaxial direction (while compressed). The properties and performance of the electrodes could also change over time when rubbed against another surface due to the frictional force and generated heat. This work investigates the behavior of a knitted electrode under different loading conditions and after multiple abrasion cycles.


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