Influence of Electric Field and Fillers on Electrical Tree Development in Epoxy Resin

Abstract

We investigate the influence of electric field in a void of epoxy resin with fillers on development of electrical trees. Not only observations of pits and electrical trees but also measurements of temporal variations of the number of partial discharges (PDs) and the PD magnitude were carried out. It was found that PDs with several hundred pC can be measurement by a CT sensor until the obvious formation of an electric tree is achieved in the case of epoxy resin without fillers. Additionally, when electric field of the tip of a pit is the almost same as the withstand electric field of the epoxy resin, electrical tree and breakdown occur in a very short time. The development of electrical tree is disturbed by fillers in epoxy resin, and the required time for breakdown is much longer than that of epoxy resin without fillers.