| Polymeric materials are being used as a housing material on high voltage outdoor insulation as an alternative to porcelain or glass in line insulators, surge arresters, station posts, and bushings. Among the polymeric materials in use, silicone rubber has proven to have good aging performance under polluted conditions by keeping low levels of leakage current by virtue of its hydrophobicity. However, the exposure of polymeric materials to contaminated and humid environments can lead to certain surface conditions that reduces hydrophobicity increasing leakage current levels, giving rise to dry band arcing. Dry band arcing produces heat, which can result in tracking or erosion of the housing material. Although this dry band arcing does not harm porcelain or glass housings, it will erode pure silicone rubber to such an extent that its application in outdoor environments is not, practical.; Fillers are added to silicone rubber to improve tracking and erosion resistance. Among the filler choices, alumina trihydrate (ATH) and silica have been extensively adopted in the compounding of polymeric housings. ATH is a flame retardant that has a molecular water in its formulation. Whenever the surface temperature of an ATH filled polymer reaches approximately 220°C, the water of hydration is released from the ATH molecule, what is recognized as an efficient way to cool down the surface, for example, in the case of dry band arcing. Alternatively, silica has very good bonding with the polymer backbone, imparting mechanical strength to the composite matrix. In addition, fillers such as ATH or silica increase the thermal conductivity of silicone rubber composites, which facilitates moving the heat away from its source, that is, from the origin of dry band arcing. Although heat is considered to be the main degradation factor when dry band arcing occurs, very little information is available on the thermal performance of filled silicone rubber.; The standard methods available to test tracking and erosion resistance of filled silicone rubber do not allow to delineate the fundamentals of the thermal degradation, where the heat from the dry band arcing is the main degradation factor. In this work, a thermal imaging camera is used to investigate the thermal performance of filled silicone rubber in an inclined plane test. Infrared laser based techniques are developed to study the material performance. Furthermore, this thesis addresses the measurement of the thermal conductivity, based on infrared laser and thermal imaging, but using simple concepts. Theoretical and empirical models are developed in support of the experimental investigation. |
