Proceedings of the International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Informatics Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia June 17-19, 2007

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Effect of Acidic Rain on Hydrophobicity of Silicon Rubber Used As Electrical Insulation

M. Ali and M. Zafrullah
University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, Pakistan
ABSTRACT: The polymeric insulators have many advantages over old traditional ceramics but, being mostly organic and having less experience, their age is a major concern nowadays. To find the extent of aging and useful life of polymeric insulators in Pakistan, multi-stresses were applied on insulators to find their age. An environmental cycle, simulating the environmental data of Islamabad and its surroundings, was designed. UV Radiations were applied for 12 hours and Acidic Rain for half an hour daily. The process was continued for a month. It was found that insulators restored their hydrophobicity at the end of the cycle. The insulators were analyzed using sophisticated material testing techniques like Swedish Transmission Research Institute (STRI) hydrophobicity classification and Visual observations. The material tested was HTV silicone containing silica and ATH in the form of rod and plate. The applied voltage was 10 kV. Test results show that samples follow a periodic degradation and restoration cycle. Index Terms----Polymeric insulators, degradation, FTIR, hydrophobicity, SEM. Leakage current

1. Introduction:
Polymeric insulators are gaining acceptability all over the world very rapidly because of their advantages over ceramics but being organic in nature when subjected to outdoor applications can be degraded by environmental stresses such as temperature, sunlight, moisture, acid rain, and others. Acid rain is a big source of contaminations due to which tracking and discharge may occur under severe conditions.[2] This paper is an effort towards introduction of polymeric insulators in Pakistan. Here, the behavior of polymeric insulators under the combined effect of UV radiation, temperature, electric stress, humidity, nitric acid, corona and ozone with specific reference to Pakistani environment was observed and analyzed.

Fig. 1 Test setup

3
1.

Test Specimens:

2.

Laboratory Aging:

This study was conducted using a chamber of 2x2x2 feet to keep the UV radiation at desired level. Two rods; one energized and other un-energized, two plates; one energized and other un-energized and two assembled insulators; one energized and other un-energized were placed in the chamber. UV radiation level was kept 4.16mW/cm2. UV radiations were applied by using UV lamps arranged on three sides of the chamber. A spray gun was fitted on one side of a chamber to make an artificial acidic rain. The diameter of nozzle was 0.5 mm and spraying pressure was 3.0kg/cm2. The rate of rain was 0.5 liter /hour. [1] The applied voltage was 10 kV. The arrangement of setup is shown in figure 1.

HTV-Silicone rod containing silica and ATH (Unenergized UEUVR). 2. HTV-Silicone plate containing silica and ATH (Unenergized UEUVP). 3. HTV-Silicone rod containing silica and ATH (Energized EUVR). 4. HTV-Silicone plate containing silica and ATH (Energized EUVP). Plate and Rod used in this experiment are shown in figure 2.

Plate *Email : drzafrullah@uettaxila.edu.pk

Rod

Fig. 2 Samples

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Proceedings of the International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Informatics Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia June 17-19, 2007

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4 Test Procedure:
4.1 Sample sizes 1. 300 mmx30 mm HTV-Silicone rod containing silica and ATH. 2. 220 mmx160 mm HTV-Silicone plate containing silica and ATH 4.2 Applied Stresses Cycle shown in table 1 was designed to simulate the environment of the capital city ISLAMABAD and its surroundings keeping in view the environmental data available [4]. Sr. No 1 2 3 4 Time of day 7:00 pm to7:00 am 7:00 am to11:00 am 11:00 am to11:30 am 11:30 am to7:00 pm Operation time 12 Hr. 04 Hr. 0.5 Hr. 7.30 Hr. Operation UV rad. + 28.50C Rest Rain spray Rest Fig. 3(b) after 24 days

Fig. 3(a) after 17 days

Table 1 Weather cycle The applied stresses were arranged as shown in table 2. Parameters UVR Humidity Nitric acid Salt Temperature Rainfall Corona Ozone Intensity 5.68 1.15 2.35 2 1 2.5 2.4 2

Fig. 3(c) after 30 days Figure 3(a), (b) & (c) of samples for color identification. The discoloration may be due to formation of sodium Nitrate due to following reaction,

HNO3 + NaCl = NaNO3 + HCl

5.2 Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy( FTIR):
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is the main polymer for silicon oil and silicon rubber. It is mainly composed of chains of alternating silicon and oxygen atoms and methyl groups. These hydrocarbon methyl groups are responsible for superior hydrophobic performance of silicon rubber [2] .The Si-O bond has high bond energy so that the silicon rubber has a high heat resistance against tracking and discharge. As already mentioned, the absorption peak at the wave number~1083 cm-1 is used for Si O bonds in backbone. The absorption peak at the wave number~1260 cm-1 is used for Si CH3 bonds in side chain. The decrease in absorption peak ratio of Si CH3 to that of Si O of the tested specimen compared with the new specimen is the good indicator for surface deterioration. Change of absorption peak ratio is = [ (Absorption peak ratio of tested sample Absorption peak ratio of original)/ (Absorption peak ratio of original)]*100. The relationship between % age change in absorption ratio and duration of exposure for the above mentioned samples are shown graphically in Fig. 4. If we compare, the results of energized and unenergized rods, we observe a marked difference between two graphs. In the energized case, initially there is no

Table 2 Applied stresses

Results and Discussion:

5.1 Visual Observation No cracking, chalking, erosion and discoloration were found after 5th day and 10th day. On 17th day strong discoloration was found on the top shed of insulator as shown in the figure 3. This discoloration was uniform on all the sheds. But, no discoloration was found on the core. This shows that acid rain causes a large erosion effect on the insulator. The ATH in the Insulator material easily dissolves in the acid rain and the discharge heat from corona can further cause the loss of ATH. The acid rain erodes the insulating material due to its high conductivity and low PH value which is accelerated by the electric stress. Because of this, tracking may be worse and discharge current will increase. [2, 6,7]

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Proceedings of the International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Informatics Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia June 17-19, 2007

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degradation up till reading taken on 20th day. But after 20th day an accelerated aging occurs resulting in peak degradation of -16.17% followed by accelerated restoration behaviour. On the other hand, in the case of un-energized rod initially degradation occurs up to 10th day with maximum value of -8.3% followed by constant restoration cycle. These observations lead us to following conclusions: 1. In energized rod case, degradation is more rapid resulting in higher density difference which subsequently leads to higher diffusion rate. While in un-energized case, the degradation is gradual and slow, resulting in slow restoration. The peak degradation in energized case is more than the un-energized case.

The behavior of rod is very different from plate. The plate degrades more rapidly than the rod as is evident from graphs in Fig.4. This may be due to the reason that more surface area of plate is exposed to rain and UV Radiations. All FTIR results depict that samples follow a periodic degradation / restoration cycle. This has been reported by many researchers. The silicone rubber insulators have molecular chains of varying molecular weight distribution. The molecular weights of PDMS chains vary from 104- 105. Out of these, the chains having weight less than 2500 are free LMW. Due to the higher mobility, these LMW chains are responsible for diffusion from the bulk of insulator to the outer layer resulting in restoration of insulator characteristics. In addition, these LMW chains have got more methyl groups so their relative degradation as compared to larger molecular chains is more, especially during acid rain. During degradation cycle the concentration of LMW polymer liquid deceases on the surface. While in the restoration cycle, due to density difference, the LMW polymer liquid from the bulk diffuses to the surface layer in order to cater for deficiency caused during degradation cycle. The increase of LMW chains can provide a low energy surface. This behavior is depicted in all FTIR graphs and results i.e. during restoration cycle the absorption of CH and S-O bond increases which implies the diffusion of LMW chains from bulk to the surface.

2.

In fact, in energized aging, the increase in discharge heat during dry band arcing leads to the formation of erosion pits in which ignition occurs and the resulting flaming accelerates the degradation of silicon rubber material and decomposes the methyl groups to yield active terminals and free radicals in order to initiate the chain dissociation reaction [2]. The energized plate is degrading more rapidly than the un-energized one. Both curves have got same shape but the peak value of degradation is high i.e. -19.65 % as compared to -4.2% observed in the case of un-energized plate. Also during the same time un-energized plate has completed two cycles of degradation and restoration while the energized one has completed only one cycle which is because of higher peak degradation value. These deductions reconfirm the conclusions drawn in the case of rods.

5 0 -5 -10 -15 -20 -25 5 days 10 days 20 days 24 days 30 days EUVR (Energized Rod) UEUVR (Un-Energized Rods) UEUVP (Un-Energized Plate) EUVP (Energized Plate)

Fig. 4.Effect of weather cycle and rain These elastic recovery characteristics are the prime reasons of superior contamination performance of silicon rubber, even when subjected to severe environmental conditions [2]. Leakage Current: The leakage current (LC) of an insulator is considered to be a good index for its performance evaluation. The leakage current increases with aging and also depends on the weather conditions i.e. rain etc. Normally, if the leakage current remains below 10mA then the insulator is thought to be alright [8]. 5.3

Leakage current was monitored regularly. Normally current taken by insulator was 0.1mA but during rain the current ranged from 1.85mA to 2.7mA. The increase of current was because of the high conductivity of acid rain. The magnitude of leakage current remained within acceptable range which shows that insulators are alright. It is also in line with the results of FTIR. [2].

Conclusion:

The maximum degradation occurred in energized plate is -19.65% and the maximum degradation occurred in

ISBN 978-979-16338-0-2

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Proceedings of the International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Informatics Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia June 17-19, 2007

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energized rod is -16.17%.The maximum leakage current was 2.7mA. All these observation confirm that the samples retained their hydrophobicity during the cycle, however, the acid rain has caused severe discoloration and erosion.

References
[1] M.A.R Manjula Fernando Performance of Non-ceramic Insulators in TropicalEnvironments Thesis for the degree of doctor of philosophy department of electrical power Engineering Chalmers University of Technology Goteborg Sweden 1999. [2] X.Wang, S.Kumagai and N. Yoshimura, Contamination performances of Silicone Rubber Insulator Subjected to Acid Rain IEEE Transaction on Dielectric and Electrical Insulation 1998 [3] Hydrophobicity Classification Guide, STRI Guide 92/1 [4] J.W. Chang and R.S. Gorur, The role of Backbone Chain Rotation in the hydrophobicity Recovery of Polymeric materials for Outdoor Insulation, , IEEE international conference on conduction and breakdown in solid dielectric 1992 270-275. [5] ADB RETA5555-Environment statistics Pakistan. [6] Burnham, Jeff: Guideline for visual identification of damaged polymer insulators, Transmission department Juno Beach, November 1998. [7] Guideline for visual identification of deterioration and damages on suspension composite insulators, STRI Guide 5, 2003. [8] Raji Sundararajan Areef Muhammad, Noppom Chaipanit Tim Karcher and Zhenquan LIU. In service Aging and Degradation of 345 kV EPDM Transmission line Insulators in Coastal EnvironmentIEEE 2004. [9] M.A.R Manjula Fernando Performance of Non-ceramic Insulators in TropicalEnvironments Thesis for the degree of doctor of philosophy department of electrical power Engineering Chalmers University of Technology Goteborg Sweden 1999.

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