Electrical treeing behavior in polymer nanocomposites under different nanoparticles size

Abstract

Several polymer nanocomposites have been examined by the research community, aiming to clarify how the incorporation of nanoparticles in a pure polymer affects its dielectric properties. A number of factors can affect the nanocomposites properties, such as the nanoparticles size, the nanoparticles loading, the interfaces which are formed between the nanoparticles and the polymer, the space charge distribution etc. In this paper the influence of nanoparticles size on the electrical properties of the polymer nanocomposites is examined. More specifically, the electrical treeing behavior in epoxy/TiO2 under different nanoparticles size is simulated. The simulations are performed under dc voltage. The results show that the nanoparticles size influences the tree propagation. It is observed that as the nanoparticles size decreases, the growth of the electrical tree is hindered and its length decreases.