F E A T U R E A R T I C L E

Experimental Investigations on Insulating

Liquids for Power Transformers: Mineral,
Ester, and Silicone Oils
Key Words: power transformers, vegetable and synthetic oils, mineral oils, breakdown voltage, heat
transfer, aging, electrostatic charging tendency, gassing tendency and stray gassing

Introduction
In the face of increasing demand for the use of environmen-
tally friendly products in the industry, distribution transformers
are increasingly filled with vegetable oils. Now, the big chal-
lenge is to extend its use to high-voltage (HV) power transform-
ers where the conditions of use are more severe and the limit
values for maintenance/monitoring are of great importance. Two
recent projects involved natural ester fluid in power transform-
ers, one rated at 132 kV/90 MVA for the UK, the other rated at
242 kV for Brazil (a shunt reactor) [1].
In liquid-filled transformers, the insulating liquid plays two
important functions by providing the electrical insulation (in
combination with a solid such as cellulose) and removing the
heat generated by the windings. Liquid-immersed transformers
have been mainly filled with mineral oil for more than one hun-
dred years. The use of this petroleum-based product has been
justified until now by its wide availability, its good properties,
its good combination with cellulose, and its low cost. However,
with environmental issues now becoming extremely important,
the use of a product with high biodegradability is becoming ex-
tremely attractive. Thus, the recent availability of natural ester
fluids based on “renewably sourced” vegetable oils has provided
a new insulating liquid for use in transformers. Indeed, natu-
ral oils are renewable because they can be extracted from veg-
etables such as castor-oil plant (the first oil historically used in
electrical apparatus—capacitors [2]), soya, rapeseed, sunflower,
peanut, and coconut, to name only a few. Moreover they require
less energy for their treatment and simple apparatus for their
extraction. The vegetable oils are biodegradable at 95 to 100%,
and nontoxic; they present lower aquatic or earth danger than
conventional mineral oils [3].
The growing interest in the vegetable oil-based dielectric flu-
ids is also motivated by two fundamental points:
1) Their excellent fire safety characteristics. Indeed, the
high values of both flash and fire points compared with
mineral oils ensure better safety in operation, handling,
C. Perrier
AREVA T & D, Technology, Innovation, and Com-
petence Development Center, Massy, France
A. Beroual
Ecole Centrale de Lyon, Laboratoire AMPERE
UMR CNRS, Ecully Cedex, France
In this paper the dielectric strength,
Electrostatic Charging Tendency
(ECT), ageing stability, gassing ten-
dency, heat transfer efficiency and
stray gassing issue of mineral and
silicone oils, synthetic and natural
esters are analyzed and discussed.
storage, and transportation of vegetable oils, and thus
better operational safety of transformers using such liq-
uids.
2) The alarming predictions concerning the shortage of
petroleum oils by the middle of this century; one can
expect a serious crisis of petroleum oils and very im-
portant and rapid increase in their price.
Thus the substitution of mineral oil by a natural ester is an
interesting challenge, as there are many differences in the char-
acteristics that can affect both the good operation of the trans-
former and the re-evaluation of limits for the maintenance and
monitoring.

6 0883-7554/07/$25/©2009IEEE IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine

 This article presents results of experimental investigations
and comparisons between mineral and silicone oils, natural es-
ters (vegetable oils) issued from different origins, and synthetic
esters. The characteristics such as dielectric strength, heat trans-
fer efficiency, aging, electrostatic charging tendency (ECT),
gassing tendency, and the stray gassing issue are analyzed. The
dielectric strength is studied through the ac breakdown voltage
with spherical and VDE electrodes, the heat transfer efficiency
is studied through the viscosity, and aging behavior will be de-
scribed by means of the evolution of acidity and dissipation fac-
tor. The ECT is studied through the mini-static charge tester;
the gassing tendency under hydrogen atmosphere, and the stray
gassing in accordance with the CIGRE test method [4].
Tested Oils
The oils we considered are as follows:
• Three vegetable oils issued from different suppliers,
denoted (1), (2), and (3). These oils have high water
solubility, a high pour point compared to that of min-
eral oil, an acidity higher than that of mineral oils, and
a high viscosity that reduces the heat transfer by con-
vection. Their susceptibility to oxidation has been the
fundamental obstacle to their development and use as
a basic liquid in electrical apparatus. For that purpose,
vegetable oils are recommended to be used in sealed
transformers; their oxidation stability is often enhanced
by the use of anti-oxidants. Note that most of these liq-
uids fundamentally consist of triglycerides, naturally
synthesized by the esterification of tri-alcohol (or glyc-
erol) with three fatty acids. Some of them can be also
obtained by mixing a tri- and mono- ester; this being
achieved by transesterification [5].
• A synthetic ester oil (tetra-ester) based on pentaeryth-
ritol and frequently used in distribution and traction
transformers for its high fire resistance. This oil was
also chosen for its high water solubility, its good bio-
degradability and its pour point close to that of mineral
oil.
• A silicone oil used in distribution and traction trans-
formers for its high fire resistance and good thermal
stability.
• Different inhibited and noninhibited mineral oils of
naphtenic and paraffinic types, used in power trans-
formers.
A description of the oils tested is shown in Table 1.
Breakdown Voltage
The dielectric strength is a major parameter when choosing
oils for use in oil-filled apparatus such as power transformers.
The selected oil must indeed ensure the electrical insulation
function as well as a good impregnation of the different solid
insulating components of the apparatus (paper or polymer used
for the windings insulation, pressboard and wood). The impreg-
nation eliminates air or other gases, thus avoiding the initiation
of partial discharges. One compares the dielectric strength of
oils through their breakdown voltage (BDV) in a given electrode
November/December 2009 — Vol. 25, No. 6 7
Table 1. Description of the Oils Tested.
Name Description IEC standard
blend of mono- and tri-ester
Vegetable oil 1
without additive
/
Vegetable oil 2, 3 Tri-ester /
Synthetic ester Tetra-ester 61099 ed. 1
Mineral oil 1, 2, 3, 6 Napthenic, noninhibited
Mineral oil 4, 7, 8 Naphtenic, inhibited 60296 ed. 3
Mineral oil 5 Paraffinic, noninhibited
Silicone oil Polydimethylsiloxane 60836 Ed. 2
geometry defined by standard specifications. BDV measures the
efficiency of oil as an insulator. BDV is very sensitive to the
quality of oil, which in turn can be influenced by the presence
of different contaminants (conducting and nonconducting par-
ticles, moisture and water droplets or other emulsions or gases).
BDV is a good characteristic for comparing different oils when
the impurity content is well controlled.
Experimental Techniques
The measurements of breakdown voltage are achieved at the
ambient temperature according to IEC 60156 specifications us-
ing a Baur Dieltest (100 kV-60 Hz) in two different ways. The
first one was determined on 18 measurements (three times the
6 measurements required by the IEC 60156 standard) on fresh
oils and spherical electrodes. The second one was determined on
30 measurements (five times the IEC 60156 standard) on fresh
and aged oils with VDE electrodes. VDE electrodes were chosen
because they are more sensitive to oil degradation than spherical
electrodes (surface area). The aging consists of putting the oil at
120°C in contact with the atmosphere and copper (ratio 1:3 in
surface:oil volume) during 14 days. This speeds up the degrada-
tion process.
The voltage was progressively increased at a rate of 2.0 ±
0.2 kV/s, from zero up to breakdown. The method is available
for all insulating liquids with a nominal viscosity that doesn’t
exceed 350 mm2/s at 40°C. To avoid excessive decomposition of
the liquid at breakdown, the short-circuit current of transformers
ranged from 10 to 25 mA for all the voltages higher than 15 kV.
The electrodes were either spheres or VDE type. The electrode
axis was horizontal and the liquid was stirred during the test. The
electrode gap was set at 2.50 ± 0.05 mm. The volume of each
tested oil was 400 ml. The voltage was applied 5 minutes after
the filling of the test cell for mineral oil and 15 minutes after fill-
ing for vegetable oils [6]. All oil samples were new as received
from the suppliers and processed under the same conditions by
means of a 10 to 16 μm sintered glass filter under vacuum. The
oil water content was determined in accordance with the Coulo-
metric Karl Fisher titration (IEC 60814).
 Figure 1. BDV with spherical electrodes and 2.5 mm gap (water content in ppm) of fresh treated oils [1].
Experimental Results
In the first type of tests, we observed that processed natural
and synthetic esters present BDV relatively close to that of min-
eral oil and above the limits of IEC 60296 for mineral oil (namely
a mean BDV on 6 measurements > 70 kV; Figure 1). Note that
after the laboratory treatment, the water content in the mineral
oil was about 12% of its saturation value at 25°C, whereas ester
oils were all generally below 10% of the saturation level.
Figure 2 shows the evolution of the average BDV after aging
(second type of tests). The values in brackets represent the low-
est BDV of 30 measurements. We can consider it as a security
coefficient (SC) level. The humidity of oils is listed in Table 2.
Before aging, natural and synthetic esters have BDV close to
that of mineral oil (MO) as observed with spherical electrodes
(Figure 1). After aging, natural esters generally maintain a good
BDV and are sometimes better than conventional mineral oils.
Tri-ester based vegetable oils (vegetable oils 2 and 3) keep a
relatively good SC, not worse than some mineral oils. Vegetable
oil 1 shows a low SC of 15 kV, likely caused by the lack of ad-
ditives. Note that the synthetic ester presents a lower average
BDV, but keeps the same dispersion before and after aging [see
the standard deviation (SD)].
Heat Transfer
Heat transfer is another important function that insulating oil
must ensure in transformers. This function is realized by both
8 IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine
thermal conductivity and convection [7]. The convection repre-
sents all the properties which lead to the heat transfer by fluid
displacement (viscosity, specific heat, thermal expansion coef-
ficient) whereas the conduction depends on the conductivity of
the fluid. The most influential parameter for the heat transfer is
the kinematics viscosity [8]. Viscosity measurements were de-
termined according to ISO 3104 specification.
At the normal operating temperature of a power transformer,
the viscosity of ester oils is higher than that of mineral oil, but
lower than that of silicone oil (Figure 3). These results show
that the heat transfer in a transformer by convection will be less
efficient with ester oils and least efficient with silicone oil. This
is not necessarily a critical issue, but care has to be taken espe-
cially when designing the cooling system of power transformers.
It should be noted that some vegetable oils can have a viscosity
closer to that of mineral oil (e.g., vegetable oil 1), thus minimiz-
ing this effect.
Aging Stability
In addition to the BDV and the heat transfer characteristics,
the selected oil must have a good aging stability.
Oxidation Stability
Oxygen constitutes one of the most influential factors in the
aging of oil by oxidation. It can be naturally present or may in-
gress into oil from the environment. Therefore, the oxidation sta-
Figure 2. Evolution of average BDV (30 measurements) after aging (14 days/120°C) with VDE electrodes and 2.5 mm gap; legend:
BDV before aging [□], BDV after aging [■], SD before aging [---], SD after aging […], (SC level in kV).

bility of oil is more important for a free breathing transformer. Experimental Results
On the other hand, temperature is a factor and some metals such After aging, the synthetic ester keeps a very low acidity which
as copper act as a catalyst. To reduce the aging process, some is even lower than that of mineral oil (Figure 4). Concerning the
synthetic inhibitors like DBPC (2, 6-di-tert-butyl-p-cresol) can tested vegetable oils, each one reacted differently with respect
be added. Some sulfur compounds also present in mineral oils to aging: vegetable oil 2 stayed below the IEC limit required for
act as natural inhibitors. In some countries, a metal deactivator mineral oil (red dashed line), whereas vegetable oil 1 (known to
(passivator) can be also used to reduce the catalyst effect of cop- be additive free) showed a large increase of acidity. These results
per. As esters oils are more biodegradable than mineral oils, they could be correlated to the presence or lack of additives, as well
tend to have lower oxidation stability. This lower oxidation sta- as to the nature of the seed from which oil is extracted. To date,
bility can force transformer manufacturers to use a sealed design specifications for natural esters are not well established, and it
(not free breathing) although vegetable oil suppliers could also
add an inhibitor, which should be as “green” as possible.
Table 2. Water Content (ppm mass) Before and After Aging.
Experimental Techniques
Oil type After treatment (ppm) After aging (ppm)
To analyze the oxidation stability of different oils, we carried
out the aging tests according to IEC 61125 C. This is the inter- Veg. oil 3 45 135
national reference test to evaluate a new mineral oil. It consists
of aging oil in the presence of a copper catalyst at 120°C for 164 Veg. oil 2 55 155
hours (for noninhibited oil) with a defined air flow rate. These Synth. ester 41 95
tests were done on new oils, as received from the suppliers. The
acidity and dissipation factor (tan delta), were measured in ac- Veg. oil l 40 200
cordance with the IEC 62021-1 and IEC 60247 respectively. Naph. MO1 7 22
These two parameters (acidity and tan delta) constitute the most
pertinent properties for evaluating the oxidation stability of min- Naph. MO2 5 21
eral oils. They are used as a reference to compare the behavior Naph. MO4 6 25
of ester oils with mineral oil. Nevertheless, new parameters such
as the viscosity evolution can also be used to assess the ester oil Naph. MO3 8 31
degradation. Indeed, a high increase in viscosity was observed Paraf. MO5 5 20
for some vegetable oils after aging.

November/December 2009 — Vol. 25, No. 6 9

 Figure 3. Viscosity evolution versus temperature for different oil
types.
is difficult for the user to know the presence or lack of specified
additives in a given vegetable oil.
Figure 5 shows that tan delta of synthetic ester increases sig-
nificantly after aging in comparison to mineral and some vege-
table oils. Note that vegetable oil 2 stays below the IEC limit for
mineral oil. Figure 6 clearly shows that viscosity of vegetable
oils can increase more than twofold after aging whereas viscos-
ity of mineral oil remains constant. This effect could affect the
cooling system of the transformer.
It appears from the above results that some vegetable oils can
pass the IEC 61125C test for noninhibited mineral oil whereas
others do not. Synthetic ester shows a good stability in acidity,
but a large increase in tan delta. One of the challenges for the
industry is to know if the different aging behaviours of ester oils
are significant for the transformer life expectancy and to under-
stand the importance of additives in the aging process. It would
be interesting to test vegetable oils with additives in the same
conditions as inhibited mineral oils. The WG PT-5 (IEC TC 10)
is actively working on this hot topic. The other challenge is to
further investigate the tendency of esters to increase in viscosity
in order to avoid problems with the cooling system.
Figure 4. Acidity before and after IEC 61125C aging (164 h at
120°C).
10 IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine
Figure 5. Tan delta before and after IEC 61125C aging (164 h
at 120°C).
Gassing Tendency
The appearance of partial discharges results in the production
of different gases due to the decomposition of oil molecules.
The main formed gas is hydrogen (H2). There are also methane
(CH4), ethane (C2H6), ethylene (C2H4), and acetylene (C2H2).
Such gases can endanger the safety of apparatus. Thus, the use
of low gas-evolving or low gas-absorbing liquids is preferred,
especially if the system is sealed (not in contact with the atmo-
sphere). With a highly gas-absorbing oil, partial discharge activ-
ity can continue over a long period of time without harm.
Experimental Techniques
The gassing test measures the tendency of insulating liquids
to evolve or absorb gases when subjected to an electrical field;
the strength of which is sufficient to initiate partial discharges.
For that purpose, we use the IEC 60628/A method which en-
ables determination of the gassing tendency of an insulating liq-
uid under a hydrogen atmosphere and expresses the results in
terms of gassing rate over a relatively short test period. After be-
ing dried and saturated with hydrogen gas, the insulating liquid
Figure 6. Viscosity before and after IEC 61125C aging (164 h
at 120°C).
 unit to describe ECT of oil is the charge density (i.e., the amount
of charge generated per unit volume of oil in the flow) that can
be estimated by [11]

ρ = i · t · 1012/V (1)

where ρ is the charge density (μC/m3), i is the current (A), t is the

oil flow (sec.) and V is the oil volume (mL).
Tests were performed on nonprocessed new oils (Table 3),
i.e., slightly wet and the paper filter (Whatman) conditioned in
a dessicator. Based on the fact that oils are more humid than in
real conditions and knowing that dried oils generate more charg-
es [8], we can assume that results are under-estimated.

Figure 7. Gassing tendency in accordance with IEC 60628/A.

Experimental Results
Figure 8 clearly shows that ester oils (natural and synthetic)
is subjected in a specific cell to electrical stress (10 kV/50 Hz) at create a larger amount of charges than mineral and silicone oils.
80°C for 120 minutes. The rate of evolution or absorption of gas The assumption that this phenomenon could be linked to the oil
resulting from reactions at the gas/oil interface is calculated as a viscosity is not valid, because silicone oil is also very viscous
volume per unit of time from changes in pressure with time. but it generates very few charges. It seems to be connected to
the molecular structure of ester oils. Whatever the cause, this
phenomenon could constitute a problem for power transformers
Experimental Results
Natural ester oils clearly appear to be gas absorbing oils
whereas synthetic ester is gas evolving (Figure 7) confirming
thus the results reported in literature [9]. Table 3. Humidity Content of Tested Products.
As vegetable oils are recommended to be used in sealed sys-
tems, their gas absorbing behavior is correlated with the applica- Water content at 20°C Water content at 20°C
Oil (ppm) (% RH)
tion. On the assumption that gas ratio caused by electrical faults
of mineral oil are the same as ester oils, the fault interpretation Naph. MO4 17 ~31
would be underestimated for vegetable oils and overestimated
Naph. MO3 18 ~33
for synthetic ester in comparison to the mineral oils. However,
as reported by others [10], gas ratios are not exactly the same as Silicone 73 ~36
for mineral oil to determine fault detection and diagnosis. Thus,
Synth. Ester 102 ~4
the influence of gassing tendency on the dissolved gases analysis
for ester oils is still difficult to clarify. Veg. oil 3 115 ~10

Veg. oil 2 168 ~15

Electrostatic Charging Tendency (ECT)
Because of the important heat which can be generated by the Veg. oil 1 180 ~25
windings and core, large power transformers are cooled by the
forced circulation of oil. However, the oil circulation results in
a separation of charge at the paper/oil interface and in the ap-
pearance of a double layer. Depending of the oil, this charge
generation can be more or less important. Afterwards, the ac-
cumulation of these charges (more dependent on the cellulose
properties) can lead to the initiation of partial discharges and
even to the breakdown of transformer. Generally, the insulating
oil is charged positively and the solid insulating material nega-
tively [11]­–[13].

Experimental Techniques
To estimate the electrostatic charging tendency (ECT) of oil,
we used a simple set-up called mini-static charge tester [11]. The
test consists of generating a charge separation by forcing given
oil through a filter sheet (Whatman 541). The charge on the pa-
per filter is measured by an electrometer. The most convenient Figure 8. Charge density of different insulating oil types.

November/December 2009 — Vol. 25, No. 6 11

 Figure 9. Stray gassing (TCDG) of different insulating liquids
after 64 h at 120°C in syringe.
if there is an accumulation on the cellulose. At this step of the
study, one cannot conclude that the use of ester oils should be
dangerous in HV liquid-filled transformers. Therefore, it’s nec-
essary to conduct deeper investigations on the charge accumula-
tion and simulation with systems close to real conditions (dried
materials, exact velocity …).
Stray Gassing
Stray gassing means “the formation of gases when insulat-
ing oils is heated at relatively low temperature (90-200°C)”
[4]. Such an unexpected gas formation at these relatively low
temperatures can lead to confusion in the Dissolved Gas Analy-
sis (DGA) interpretation. Indeed, the generation of these gases
could be linked to an electrical fault in transformer whereas it
is linked to the oil degradation. This gas formation resulting of
thermal stress is all the more critical on new power transform-
ers where very low dissolved gas content is required during the
factory tests.
Experimental Techniques
The main lines of the CIGRE method were used [4]. Unused
oils were degassed under vacuum and saturated with inert gases,
Figure 10. Stray gassing (H2) of different insulating liquids after performed to analyze the charge accumulation and to determine
64 h at 120°C in syringe.
12 IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine
Figure 11. Stray gassing (C2H6) of different insulating liquids
after 64 h at 120°C in syringe.
then put in a syringe and aged for 64  h at 120°C. The DGA
was realized by mean of a total vacuum degassing system for
the extraction (TOGA from Energy Support) avoiding thus the
measurement difficulty due to the different Ostwald coefficients
between different types of fluid.
Experimental Results
Figure 9 shows that natural ester oils create more gases under
thermal stress than synthetic esters, mineral, and silicone oils.
Especially, we observe that natural esters create a notable con-
centration of hydrogen in comparison with other tested liquids
(Figure 10). Hydrogen being generally associated with electri-
cal faults and partial discharges, this point should be taken into
account in the DGA interpretation for natural esters. Figure 11
also underlines the fact that vegetable oils create more ethane
under thermal faults than other types of liquids, thus confirming
conclusions from Khan et al [10].
Conclusions
This work shows that before aging, natural and synthetic es-
ters present BDV close to that of mineral oil while after aging,
natural esters generally keep a good BDV and are even some-
times better than mineral oils. Some natural esters have oxida-
tion stability as good as noninhibited mineral oil with correct
increase of acidity and tan delta. Nevertheless, ester oils are
also characterized by a high increase of viscosity. This property
should be taken into account to assess the ester oil aging. Veg-
etable oils appear to be gas absorbing, which is good for applica-
tions in sealed systems. However to avoid a wrong interpretation
of DGA, particular attention must be paid to the stray gassing
of ester oils. Because of higher viscosity values, the heat trans-
fer (by convection) in transformers will be less efficient with
ester oils and least efficient with silicone oil. However, some
vegetable oils can have a viscosity closer to that of mineral oil,
thus minimizing this effect. It was also observed that ester oils
present an ECT, and especially a charge generation higher than
that of others liquids. Extensive investigations still need to be
whether this phenomenon is dangerous.
References
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Christophe Perrier was born on April
3, 1978, in Montpellier, France. He ob-
tained his M.S. degree in insulating ma-
terials in 2001 from St Jérôme University
of Marseille and the Ph.D. degree in elec-
trical engineering in 2005 from the Ecole
Centrale de Lyon, France. He worked as
a Ph.D. student at the Research Center
November/December 2009 — Vol. 25, No. 6 13
of AREVA T&D (formerly Alstom T&D) in Villeurbanne and
Ecole Centrale de Lyon. He works presently as a research en-
gineer at the Technology, Innovation, and Competence Center
(TICC) of AREVA T&D Power Transformers in Massy, France.
Specifically, he is in charge of R&D projects and acts as techni-
cal support on topics related to insulating liquids. He is member
of CIGRE & IEC WG.
Abderrahmane Beroual (M’92) re-
ceived the Dipl. Ing. degree in 1976 from
the Ecole Nationale Polytechnique of Al-
giers, Algeria, and the Ph.D. degree in
electrical engineering in 1979 from the
Technical University of Wroclaw, Poland.
In 1987, he obtained the Doctorat d’Etat
ès Sciences Physiques degree from the
Institut National Polytechnique of Grenoble, France. In 1980,
he joined the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Ecole
Nationale Polytechnique of Algiers. From 1983 to 1987, he was
a researcher at the Laboratoire d’Electrostatique et de Matériaux
Diélectriques (LEMD)– CNRS of Grenoble, France and associ-
ate professor at the Joseph Fourier University of Grenoble. He
received the title of professor at the Ecole Nationale Polytech-
nique of Algiers in 1987. In 1989, he joined the Ecole Centrale
de Lyon, France where he is presently professor and the head
of the Dielectric Materials and High Voltage team at AMPERE
Lab–CNRS as well as the Responsible of the Master Research
Program in Electrical Engineering. He is responsible for numer-
ous research projects. His main research interests include high-
voltage insulating, dielectric materials, long air discharge and
lightning, and modeling of discharges and composites. He is
author/co-author of more than 280 papers, four patents and four
chapters for books. He supervised more than 30 Ph.D. theses. He
was the leadership of the International Study Group on Streamer
Propagation in Liquids of the IEEE DEIS from 1994 to 1998.
He is on many advisory committees of international conferences
(ICDL, ISH, APTADM, Gas Discharge, ICHVE, CMD, INSU-
CON, NIWE, iREED).