F

Dielectric Characterization of Power

Transformer Oils as a Diagnostic Life
Prediction Method
Key Words: Complex permittivity, dielectric properties, HV transformers, insulation aging,
polarization effects, tan, transformer oils
Introduction to High Voltage (HV)
Transformers

igh power transformers are principally of two types: hermetic and air breathing. The hermetic transformer will always have a great advantage over the air-breathing type as long
as it remains air proof. The vast majority of air-breathing transformers are equipped with an exterior expansion vessel (necessary for this volumetric change) called a conservator, which is
connected to the transformer main body. When directly exposed
to the atmosphere, insulating liquids absorb humidity, thus diminishing their dielectric strength. As moisture is absorbed by
the liquid material, the insulation capability of the insulating paper is also reduced. Therefore, to prevent inhalation of moisture
from the atmosphere into the conservator, a dehydrating (silica
gel) breather is fitted at the end of the air inlet pipe of the conservator. The air goes in and out automatically via the dehydrating
agent. The dehydrating breather contributes to the safe and reliable operation of the transformer. If there are defects in the breathing system filter, the insulating liquid will absorb moisture from
the atmosphere. The ratio of moisture uptake depends on the oil
type used, as well as the surrounding atmospheric conditions,
i.e., relative air humidity and temperature. Therefore, it is useful
to predict the dielectric behavior of the insulation liquid under
standard outdoor conditions as well as the moisture uptake of the
insulating liquids under some selected conditions [1].

Description of Insulating Transformer Oils

Mineral oils are commonly used as transformer oils. They are
fabricated by refining a fraction of the hydrocarbons collected
during the distillation of petroleum crude stock. The crude oil
stock and the refining process used in producing these oils are
similar to those used for the production of many common petroleum lubricant oils. Chemically, mineral oils consist of a com-

January/February 2005 Vol. 21, No. 1

C. T. Dervos, C. D. Paraskevas, P.
Skafidas
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
National Technical University of Athens 9, Iroon
Polytechniou Str, Zografou 157 80, Athens, Greece

P. Vassiliou
School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical
University of Athens 9, Iroon Polytechniou Str,
Zografou 157 80, Athens, Greece

The monitoring of the complex

permittivity of transformer oils, as a
function of frequency and
temperature, may provide information
concerning the state of the insulation.

plex nature of basic hydrocarbon liquids, such as paraffin (40 to

60%), naphthene (30 to 50%), aromatic (5 to 20%), and olefin
(roughly 1%) [2]. The primary physicochemical properties of
transformer insulating oils are summarized in Table 1. Their relatively good aging behavior and low viscosity make mineral oils
good insulating and cooling agents. Their electrical and dielectric properties are strongly temperature- and moisture contentdependent. The main advantages of these petroleum-based oils

11

TABLE 1. Physical and electrical properties f HV transfrmer mineral ils [4].

General physical properties

Fire properties

Density, 23 C [kg/m 3 ]

856

Flash point [ C]

Density, 90 C [kg/m 3 ]

810

Flame point [ C]

[ C]

Pour point

40

Toxicity

slightly toxic

Biodegradability
Water solubility,

Self ignition

130 135
[10 3 kJ/kg]

46

[ C]

330

high
20 C

[ppm]

45

Water solubility, 100 C [ppm]

650
Electrical properties (at 23 C)

Heat transfer
Cinematic viscosity, 20 C [mm 2 /s]

16

Breakdown strength (AC)U VDE

[kV]

Cinematic viscosity, 100 C [mm 2 /s]

2.3

Relative permittivity r (25 C, 50 Hz)

Heat capacity, 20 C [W/(mK)]

0.135

Dissipation factor, tan (90 C), 50Hz

Heat capacity, 90 C [W/(mK)]

0.125

Volume resistivity [.cm]

Specific heat,

20 C

[kJ/kg.K]

>60
2.2
>10 10 4
>100 10 12

1.85

are their wide availability and low cost. Mineral oils have a relatively low permittivity, but exhibit a low flash point and are slightly
toxic. They also have the disadvantage of endangering the environment in case of a transformer leakage or fire event [3].
The initially employed transformer liquids were based on
mineral oil products, but later synthetic oils based on polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were also adopted for certain field applications. Because of their low flammability, PCBs were used extensively for insulating and cooling electrical equipment, such as
transformers and capacitors. In the mid 1970s, a series of EPA
regulations restricted the manufacture, import, export, use, transportation, and disposal of PCBs [5]. Today, PCB insulating liquids in HV components are not installed. Current law requires
that many, but not all, existing PCB-containing electrical transformers be retired. However, in many cases, the operating units
may still have mineral oils contaminated with very low PCB concentrations that improve their overall electrical performance.
Currently, PCB additives have maximum allowable concentrations of the order of 50 ppm and are expected to be reduced further to 2 ppm by the end of the year 2010 [6], [7].
When searching substitutes for PCBs, ecological considerations raised the concern of searching for incombustible and nontoxic insulating liquids, and, as a result, the ester liquids [2], silicone fluids [4], and vegetable oils were proposed [8], [9]. However, their relatively high cost and low availability has limited
their use only to special transformer applications. Note that ester
liquids, silicone fluids, and vegetable oils belong to the high fire
point (HFP) materials, also known as less flammable liquids.
An HFP liquid must have a minimum fire point of 300C [10].
However, all these HFP ecological oils are characterized by their
high humidity absorbance, having room temperature saturation
levels of 740 ppm compared with the 45 ppm of mineral oils.

12

Combustion heat

150 175

Detecting Insulation Aging in Power Transformers

by Physicochemical Tests
Transformer life/aging is mainly related to the degradation of
the insulation, caused primarily by thermal stress of the insulating paper [11], together with electrochemical decomposition of
the paper. The byproducts are water and other substances of partly
polarizable and ionizable character [12]. For example, the life of
insulating cellulose paper at 110C is calculated as 10 yr [3].
Aging depends not just on loading, but is also influenced significantly by the type of paper, pulp composition, humidity, and oxygen contents, as well as the acidity level of the insulating liquid.
Occasionally, failures occur in UHV and HV transformers because of streaming electrification [13]. These have been attributed to charges, which are generated at the interfaces between
the moving insulating oil and the solid insulating materials of the
power transformer with forced cooling.
The quality of the insulating transformer oil is periodically
investigated [14]. The typical electrical tests (as prescribed by
ASTM D870-49) cover the determination of the electric strength,
i.e., the voltage reached during the test at the time the first spark
occurs between two electrodes (breakdown voltage). The electric strength is not a criterion of insulating oil manufacturing
quality, but is rather a conventional test intending to reveal the
extent of physical contamination by water and other suspended
matter and the advisability of carrying out drying and filtration
treatment before the oils are introduced into the transformers. In
addition, according to IEC 60247 and JIS C2101 regulations,
measurements of the dissipation factor (tan) at the operating
frequency (i.e., 50/60 Hz) at elevated temperatures of 90C or
80C are recommended. The dissipation factor gives valuable
information concerning the magnitude of the loss currents of the
materials [13].

IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine

The most significant physicochemical tests that are frequently

performed on insulating transformer oils, are summarized in Table
2.
Additionally, a high performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC) technique has been recently proposed toward the identification and detection of dissolved gases within the liquid insulation (i.e., H2, methane, hydrocarbons), thus obtaining information on oil dissociation and on the overall status of the component [15], [16].

(Icharge), and the current flowing though the conductance is the

loss current (Iloss), as shown in Figure 1. For an ideal insulating
material, any AC current should flow through the capacitor only,
i.e., the loss current should be zero.
The total current flowing through the insulator will be given
by
I = Icharge + Iloss = V(jC + G)

(1)

where C is the capacitance with the material under test between the parallel electrodes, and C0 is the vacuum capacitance
(without the material). Let C = rCo and G = Cor, then,

Service-Life Estimation Based on Complex

Permittivity
The complex permittivity describes the dielectric properties
of materials (solids and liquids) [17], [18]. A material is classified as dielectric if it has the ability to store electrical energy
when an external electric field is applied. When a voltage source
is applied across a parallel plate capacitor incorporating the material under test, the enclosed material will polarize to a varying
extent at different frequencies, depending on the nature of the
contaminants and their related relaxation mechanisms. Dielectric materials increase the energy storage of the capacitor by neutralizing charges at the interfaces of the electrodes. As a result,
more charges will flow when the dielectric is present. When an
AC sinusoidal voltage source, u(t) = V.sin(t), is placed across
the capacitor, the resulting current will be made up of two components: the charging current and the loss current, both being
related to the complex permittivity. A lossy capacitor can be represented as a conductance (G) in parallel with a capacitance (C).
The current flowing through the capacitor is the charge current

I = V(jCor + Cor) = V(jCo)(r jr) = V(jCo)r*

(2)

where
r* = r jr

(3)

The relative complex permittivity (r*) is a dimensionless quantity, which compares the complex permittivity (*) of a material
to the permittivity of the free space (o = 8.854 1012 F/m).
r* = */ o

(4)

The complex permittivity (*) describes the interaction of a

material with the electric field and consists of a real part , which
represents the storage, and an imaginary part , which represents the losses.

TABLE 2. Physicochemical tests commonly performed on insulating transformer oils.

Mineral oils
Aged oils in electrical equipment*
Test
Dielectric breakdown, (kV min.)

ASTM
method

69 kV and
below

Above 69 kV
through 288 kV

New oils as received

345 kV and
above

ASTM D 3487

D877

26

26

26

Dielectric breakdown,
@ 0.04 gap (kV min.)

D1816

23

26

26

20

Dielectric breakdown,
@ 0.08 gap (kV min.)

D1816

34

45

45

35

Interfacial tension,
(dynes/cm min.)

D971

24

26

30

40

Neutralization number,
(mg KOH/g max.)

D974

0.2
35

0.2

Water content, (ppm max.)

D1583

25

Relative Density

D1298

0.840 0.900**

Color

D1500

0.5 8***

0.1
20

0.03
15
0.91
0.5 max

*After: InterNational Electrical Testing Association (NETA), Maintenance Testing Specifications for Electrical Power Distribution Equipment and
Systems, 2001.
** The data are mean values obtained from many manufacturers.
***Color is not always a reliable guide to product quality and should not be used indiscriminately in product specifications (ASTM D1500).

January/February 2005 Vol. 21, No. 1

13

The complex permittivity is both frequency and temperature

dependent. In the low frequency regime ( f 1 MHz), the ionic
and molecular polarization processes are expected to dominate.
A temperature rise of the material increases losses, and the thermally stimulated mechanisms (electron transfer by hopping conduction) provide additional current components, thus affecting
the overall electrical properties. The investigation of the dielectric response as a function of frequency and temperature is known
as temperature-dependent dielectric spectroscopy [19]. This
work applies the method as a diagnostic tool on a selection of
mineral oils and investigates the possible span of the complex
permittivity data. The advantage of this approach is that it can be
used as a stand-alone criterion that provides insight information
on the insulation status of HV transformers, and because all
byproducts are either polar or ionic, it takes under consideration
all possible ongoing degradation mechanisms [20].
Figure 1. The equivalent circuit of a parallel plate capacitor
incorporating the material under test (liquid or solid).

Experimental Setup

The real part of the relative complex permittivity (r) is a

measure of how much energy from an external electric field will
be stored by the material, and it is frequently referred to as the
dielectric constant. For most solids and liquids, r >1. The
imaginary part of the relative complex permittivity (r) is called
the loss factor. It is a measure of how dissipative or lossy a
material can be to an externally applied electric field. According
to the theory, r is always >0 and is usually much smaller than
r. When complex permittivity is drawn as a simple vector diagram, the real and imaginary components are 90 out of phase
(Figure 2). The vector sum r* forms an angle with the real axis
(r). The relative lossiness of the material is the ratio of the
energy lost to the energy stored.

A high precision LCR meter (type HP 4284A equipped with

option 001) has been used to measure the complex permittivity
in a frequency range between 20 Hz and 1 MHz. A cylindrical
capacitor cell was used to host the oil under test. It was located
inside a temperature-controlled chamber (Weiss Tecknick
KWP64) that enabled temperature variations between 20C and
+120C. The measuring cell contained 12 mL of the test liquid
and was connected by a four-terminal configuration to the high
precision LCR measuring unit. The high temperature connecting
leads (Agilent 16452-61601) were used to connect the measuring cell to the LCR terminals. All measuring units (LCR, cell,
and temperature controllers) were computer controlled by an
IEEE-488.2 interface-bus, thus enabling automated measuring
procedures, running by a C-based software application. The measuring setup is shown in Figure 3.

tan = Iloss/I charge = / = r/ r

Energy lost per cycle

Energy stored per cycle

Results and Discussion

A) The test samples
. (5)

Figure 2. The tan vector diagram. The tan is also referred to

as dissipation factor. In the event of a highly insulating
material (i.e,. very low loss material) r* r, in which case,
tan +0. However, when the tan error vector is greater than
the tan of the measuring material under test, the overall angle
may become negative (i.e., tan 0).
14

For the purpose of this work, all samples were mineral-insulating oils employed for 150-kV power transformers. Measurements were performed on both types: 1) synthetic mixtures of
brand-new oil samples with varying humidity content and 2) asreceived samples from field-operating power transformers. The
tested representative samples are described in Table 3.
Oil samples C, D, E, F, and G fall within the acceptable limits
of all the physicochemical tests given in Table 2 and, therefore,
are considered as acceptable insulating liquids for oil-filled electrical equipment. Oil samples A and B would require dehydration before employment in field operations. The purpose of employing various water concentrations in samples A and B was to
study the effect of free water content on oil permittivity. In practice, this may simulate water droplet formation produced by high
moisture-containing oil when it cools down.

B) Typical permittivity results at different

temperatures
According to the theoretical model enabling permittivity evaluation of materials vs. frequency and temperature, it can be con-

IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine

Figure 3. The experimental setup used for the multi-frequency, complex permittivity evaluation of transformer insulating oils at
different temperatures. It includes 1) a high precision LCR measuring unit, 2) the measuring cell located in the environmental
chamber, and 3) the temperature-controlled environmental chamber. All units are computer controlled.
cluded that good quality oil samples will be characterized by low
r values (practically measured in the range of 2.2) and low r
values (and, therefore, tan, which in practice is measured in the
range of 10-3 to 10-4 at all frequencies). In the absence of polarization processes, these results should be temperature independent, implying that the examined samples are high purity oils
being entirely free of contaminants. For the purpose of this study,
measurements were performed at three different temperatures
(20oC, 35oC, and 50oC).
According to the experimentally obtained results, as the temperature of the material increases, the real part of the relative

Table 3. Description of the transformer oil samples presented in

this work.
Sample ID

Sample description

Brand new oil with added humidity beyond saturation

levels at room temperature, to about 200 ppm

Brand new oil as received from the barrels. Humidity

level: 45 ppm

Brand new oil after dehydration to 16 ppm

Oil of a 3-mo operation in a new 150-kV power

transformer. Humidity level: 13 ppm

Oil sample, after 10-yr operation in a 150-kV power

transformer without any maintenance. Humidity level:
32 ppm

Oil subjected to 30 yr of operation in a 150-kV power

transformer, following filtration and dehydration
to 9 ppm

Oil from a 150-kV autotransformer after developing

an internal fault. Humidity level: 30 ppm

January/February 2005 Vol. 21, No. 1

complex permittivity (r) tends to decrease slightly. Additionally, r is frequency independent (Figures 5a, 6a). The temperature effect on tan is shown in Figures 4a and b. Here, for any oil
sample, the highest losses are always encountered at the highest
temperatures. Therefore, temperature increase induces the worstcase operating electrical conditions (i.e., highest breakdown probabilities). Throughout this work, the same scaling has been used
for all corresponding graphs for comparison purposes.

C) Identifying the water content

The effect of water absorption by transformer oils (without
having any other additional aging byproducts) can be identified
by monitoring the reduction of r with increasing temperature.
This is clearly shown by the results of Figures 5a and b. According to these permittivity results, the water concentration in oil is
proportional to the (r/) ratio. In Table 4, the data of Figure
5 have been processed to demonstrate this effect.
For the same samples, the imaginary part of the complex permittivity and tan remain unaffected by the water absorption at
all temperatures and frequencies. This is demonstrated by the
tan results of samples A, B, and C in the low and high frequency
ranges (Figures 5b and c).
A similar response concerning the relation between the water
content and -r/ ratios is obtained by the oil samples collected from the field-operated transformers (Figure 5a). However, the additional incorporated contaminants now mainly affect the overall losses and, therefore, the tan data.

D) Identifying the aging byproducts

The experimental results of Figure 6 can be interpreted as follows. Oil samples E and G exhibit high r values as a result of
their increased humidity levels (>30 ppm) and other possible aging
(ionic/molecular) byproducts. Samples D and F are character15

Figure 4. The tan as a function of operating frequency and

measuring temperature. Sample F contains aging byproducts
caused by prolonged operation. a) The tan as a function of
frequency and temperature in the lower frequency regime. b)
The tan as a function of frequency and temperature in the
higher frequency regime.
ized by their low water concentrations (<13 ppm), and, as such,
they exhibit lower r values compared with samples E and G.
The incorporated various byproduct concentrations mainly
affect the overall tan values. Sample G, collected from an autotransformer after developing an internal fault, exhibits the highest losses from all examined samples. Among the other samples,
space charge relaxation mechanisms dominate in the 30-yr-old
sample F, despite the fact that it has been dehydrated to 9 ppm.
The low moisture content helps to reduce the r/ ratios and
the r values, but cannot eliminate the high loss effects. The loss
current increment can be attributed to polarizable inclusions, i.e.,
cellulose paper, chemically etched copper ions originating from
the transformer windings caused by acidic oil media effects [21],
ash formed by oil degradation, gaseous byproducts created during dissociation of the transformer oil, etc. Presently, these
byproduct concentrations require physicochemical and analytical techniques to be uniquely identified, but without indicating
trends about the deterioration of the breakdown voltage. On the
contrary, the direct measurement of electrical losses yields vital
information concerning the possible onset of breakdown.
Sample E originating from a 10-yr operating transformer without any maintenance, having a humidity level of 32 ppm, is characterized by high r and r/ values and considerably low
losses (tan). This may possibly be attributed to the additionally
developed small concentration of contaminants. Dehydration of
the oil leads to lower r values. Finally, sample D, collected
after a 3-mo operation in a new 150-kV power transformer, with

16

Figure 5. Permittivity data as a function of operating frequency

and measuring temperature. Samples A, B, and C are brand
new oil samples with variable water contents. a) The real part
of relative complex permittivity (r) as a function of operating
frequency and oil temperature. The black markers represent
temperature of 50oC. The grey markers represent temperature
of 35oC. The light markers represent temperature of 20oC. b)
The tan as a function of operating frequency in the lower
frequency regime. Measurements at 50C induce intensified
losses and, therefore, exhibit the highest tan values. c) The
tan as a function of operating frequency in the higher
frequency regime. Measurements at 50C induce intensified
losses and, therefore, exhibit the highest tan values.
IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine

a
r/
TABLE 4. Relation between the water content and
T
50 oC.
ratios. Examined temperature range 20 o C
Sample ID

Water content 200 ppm > 30C*

in oil [20C]
r /

45 ppm

16 ppm

2.07 10 3 /C 0.7 10 3 /C 0.37 10 3 /C

*Discrepancy may arise by the fact that at 20C, the maximum

solubility of water in mineral oil is 45 ppm.

Figure 6. Permittivity data as a function of operating

frequency. Samples D, E, F, and G are oil samples from HV
transformers under representative conditions. a) The real part
of relative complex permittivity (r) as a function of operating
frequency and oil temperature. The black markers represent
temperature of 50oC. The grey markers represent temperature
of 35oC. The light markers represent temperature of 20oC. b)
The tan as a function of operating frequency in the lower
frequency regime. Measurements at 50C induce intensified
losses and, therefore, exhibit the highest tan values. c) The
tan as a function of operating frequency in the higher
frequency regime. Measurements at 50C induce intensified
losses and, therefore, exhibit the highest tan values.

January/February 2005 Vol. 21, No. 1

a humidity level of 13 ppm, exhibits an almost perfect permittivity response (i.e., low r, low r/, and low tan values).
According to this, although all of the examined samples originating from field-operating power transformers fulfill the ASTM
requirements of all of the physicochemical tests given in Table 2,
they tend to exhibit significant variations among their permittivity responses. These can be investigated by the temperature-dependent dielectric spectroscopy in the frequency domain. Permittivity changes are created by the polarizable/ionizable aging
byproducts within the insulating liquid. During the oil degradation process, gases will evolve as the hydrocarbon chains breakdown, leaving large free radicals at the liquid interface [15]. The
collision of such free radicals usually generate large colloidal
decay products with an average molecular weight of 450 to 550
that are no longer soluble in oil and precipitate as sludge or ash
[12]. The most frequently detected gases by gas chromatography
(GC) in transformer mineral oils are O2, N2, H2, CH4, CO, CO2,
C2H6, C2H4, C2H2, C3H8, and other liquid hydrocarbons [15], [16],
[22]. Limitations of dissolved gas analysis (DGA) techniques
(ASTM D3612) may arise by the fact that the gases in the oil can
be dynamically either evolving or absorbing. Therefore, measured concentrations will be the net effect of two competitive
reactions of the traced specific gases.
The proposed temperature-dependent dielectric spectroscopy
acquires overall information concerning the electrical energy loss
and storage by the insulating oil, thus allowing for systematic
differentiation monitoring among the operational transformer oils.

Conclusions
The monitoring of the complex permittivity of transformer
oils, as a function of frequency and temperature, may provide
insight information concerning the state of the insulation within
the components. In this work, it has been investigated as a quality control method, providing service life estimations of power
transformers. The formation of databases recording polarization
effects in a wide frequency and temperature range may be used
effectively as a working tool for service engineers. Reliable insulation monitoring will reduce accidents in aged HV transform-

17

ers, some of which have been in operation since the 1960s. These
transformers always impose an environmental threat because of
possible accidental leaks or fires, especially when containing
traces of PCBs.

Acknowledgments
The authors thank the Public Power Corporation of Greece
for supporting this project. Special thanks to field engineers A.
Dratsas and N. Stefanou for providing the oil samples.

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18

[16] V. G. Arakelian, Effective diagnostics for oil-filled electrical equipment, IEEE Elect. Insul. Mag., vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 2638, 2002.
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Constantine T. Dervos received the

B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering
from the National Technical University
of Athens (NTUA), Athens, Greece, in
1980 and the M.Sc. degree in solid state
electronics and the Ph.D. degree in physics and electronics from the University
of Manchester Institute of Science and
Technology (U.M.I.S.T.), Manchester,
UK, in 1982 and 1985, respectively.
He is currently a professor in the Department of Information Transmission Systems and Materials
Technology, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
NTUA. His research activities cover metal semiconductor contacts, electrical contacts, interfacial transport processes, surface
physics, material aging and destruction mechanisms, high field
effects, high voltage insulators, dielectrics, and partial discharge
diagnostic techniques. He has developed real-time monitoring
techniques employed for power switch and GIS technology power,
based on gas analytics.
Dr. Dervos is a member of the Technical Chamber of Greece,
the IEEE, and the International Organizing Committee of Gaseous Dielectrics.

Christos D. Paraskevas was born in

Athens, Greece in 1974. He received his
electrical engineering degree from the
Technological Educational Institute of
Piraeus in 1997 and his diploma in electrical and computer engineering from
the National Technical University of
Athens in 2001. Since 2001, he has been
working on his Ph.D. thesis on temperature-dependent dielectric spectroscopy
at the Division of Information Transmis-

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sion Systems and Materials Technology of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (NTUA, Greece). The main topic
related to this work is the insulation diagnosis of oil-filled electrical equipment.

Panayotis D. Skafidas was born in

Kalamata, Greece in l964. He received
the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in 1989. He also obtained
a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering
from the National Technical University
of Athens in 1994. His thesis covered
the field of thick-film technology and
fabrication techniques of solid-state
thick-film gas sensors.
He is currently employed as a parttime teaching assistant in the School of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, NTUA. His research activities have been focused
in the field of microelectronic materials and thick-film deposition techniques for use in the semiconductor industry. His present
research interests cover the electrical properties of materials,
photovoltaics, and insulating materials.

January/February 2005 Vol. 21, No. 1

Panayota Vassiliou received the

B.Sc. degree in chemical engineering
from the University of California,
Berkeley, in 1975, and the M.Sc. degree in Chem. Eng. and the Ph.D.
degree from the School of Chemical
Engineering, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Athens,
Greece in 1977 and 1981, respectively.
She is Associate Professor in the
School of Chemical Engineering,
NTUA. She consults on the selection
of materials for industrial applications and performs failure analysis after accidental catastrophes. The main themes of research
activities are coating materials, degradation mechanisms, anticorrosive coatings, effects of working conditions on materials
and components, effects of acid deposition on historical structures, and restoration of surfaces of monuments. She is responsible for testing materials to be used for the restoration of monuments and especially of the Acropolis of Athens.
Dr. Vassiliou is a member of the Technical Chamber of Greece
and of the Academic Board of NTUA Press Publications. She is
the national representative of Greece in the International Corrosion Council.

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