Improvement of Electrical Insulation in Silicone Rubber by Adding Al2O3

Abstract

Polymer Nano composite in recent time has shown high improvement in mechanical, chemical and electrical properties. Granting all these, the use of polymer nano-composites has only recently begun starting explorer. In recent times, polymer materials has shown remarkable improvement in electrical insulation because of their numerous advantages in out-door insulation systems because of their negligible weight, better pollution performance, low cost, good dielectric properties with easy processing. In polymer materials, silicone rubber is one of the lead polymer currently used and has high ending properties like high voltage insulator, thermal stability, excellent UV resistance and hydrophobicity. Therefore, Silicone rubber with fillers can overcome few drawbacks such as low strength and insulating properties.Oxides with different properties can help silicone rubber to enhance its properties. Oxides such as alumina, zirconia are being widely used in silicone rubber. Alumina which has strong thermal conductive and compressive strength with good electrical is used in silicone rubber. Here Silicone rubber nano composites are prepared by incorporating Al2O3 nano partic les. Electrical, Chemical properties like NaCl, HCl, and corrosion tests were conducted to know the performance of silicone rubber insulation at pollutant conditions. Dielectric tests were also done to know whether Al2O3 has made any effect with silicone rubber. Tensile strength and Hardness test were carried out to determine mechanical strength of the rubber.