Properties of Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane-Modified Cellulose Insulation Paper with Different Number of Phenyls

Abstract

Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) has a total of eight substituents. The number of substituents determines the modification effect of POSS. Through simulation of molecular dynamics, this paper explores how the number of substituents affects the POSS-modified cellulose insulation paper. Specifically, the mechanical properties, thermal stability and polarizability were calculated for cellulose models with 1-phenyl POSS, 2-phenyl POSS, 3-phenyl POSS, 4-phenyl POSS, 5-phenyl POSS, 6-phenyl POSS, 7-phenyl POSS, and 8-phenyl POSS, respectively. The results show that the cellulose model modified by 6-phenyl POSS achieved better effect than the other seven models, as evidenced by its distinctively large bulk modulus, shear modulus, and elastic modulus. Besides, the cellulose model modified by 6-phenyl POSS had the most stable and the minimum mean square displacement (MSD). This is because the mechanical properties of the insulation paper are improved, as the motion of cellulose chains is inhibited by the nano-size effect of POSS and the effect of phenyls. Further, the cellulose model modified by 6-phenyl POSS also had the smallest polarizability among the modified models. Therefore, the 6-phenyl POSS-modified cellulose model can effectively reduce the polarizability of cellulose, uniform the electric field distribution in oil-paper insulation system, and thus enhance the insulation property of transformers.