Electrical Tree Growth in Nanocomposites

In polymeric insulating materials, electrical treeing often precedes breakdown. Nanometric fillers in polymers have been reported to have a tree-retarding effect. In order to effectively use nanodielectrics as insulation, an in- depth understanding of the electrical tree growth mechanism in nanodielectrics is essential. The current work examines electrical tree growth in epoxy-based nanodielectrics. Computational analyses in conjunction with experimental data are used in this work to investigate the manner, in which nanoparticles retard tree growth. A finite element-based model is used to computationally study the impact of nanoparticle inclusion, including their size and dielectric constant. Additionally, Raman spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) are used to examine the effect of partial discharges (PDs) inside tree channels on tree growth.