Hygrothermal Aging Characteristics of Silicone-Modified Aging-Resistant Epoxy Resin Insulating Material

To study the improvement effect of silicone materials on the hygrothermal resistance of epoxy resin and the aging mechanism of silicone-modified insulation materials under hygrothermal conditions, diphenylsilanediol was added to epoxy resin as a modifier in various quantities to synthesize silicone-modified epoxy resin, and a hygrothermal aging test was carried out. Water sorption, surface contact angles and dielectric properties of the insulation material were measured, and scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) and frequency domain spectroscopy (FDS) were used to analyze the results. The results showed that under 10 wt%, the silicone-modified insulation materials exhibited lower absorption rate and better dielectric properties, including lower dissipation factors and lower dielectric constant during the hygrothermal aging process, while epoxy resin modified with excessive silicone material tend to show worse dielectric performance. Closer analysis found that diphenylsilanediol decreases the size of the cracks within the material during hygrothermal aging, indicating that cracks generated during the hygrothermal aging process may be the reason for the worse dielectric performance, and diphenylsilanediol improves the hygrothermal aging resistance mainly by slowing down the generation and growth rate of cracks. FT-IR results confirmed the existence of hydrolysis and found that the rate of hydrolysis does not change with the content of diphenylsilanediol. FDS results also indicated that modified materials contain less dipoles after hygrothermal aging.