CIGRE Study Committee A2 COLLOQUIUM

October 1st- 6th, 2017, Cracow, Poland

The Impact of Laminated Cellulosic Products on Transformer Lifetime

L. DREIER, M. JASHARI, Ch. KRAUSE T. PREVOST

WEIDMANN Electrical Technology AG WEIDMANN Electrical Technology Inc.
Switzerland USA

SUMMARY

In today’s power transformers, predominantly two types of laminated cellulosic products are widely
used for thick and thin beams of the cleat system, for winding clamping rings and platforms, for
threaded rods and nuts and for thick boards of various functions.
The first type is laminated pressboard as per IEC 60763 made from high-density pressboard. The base
materials are pressboard sheets according to IEC 60641, made from kraft pulp of high chemical purity,
explicitly free from extraneous material, bonded together with a specified adhesive, which is either
casein-type glue or non-aqueous resin. The second type is laminated wood ("plywood") made from
wood veneer bonded together according to IEC 61061, using a thermosetting synthetic resin adhesive.
The veneer plies are mainly cut from beech trees, yet maple or birch is also commonly used.
The objective of the investigation was to determine potential aging behaviour differences between the
two laminated types, in particular whether aging by-products would interact differently with the paper
in the system, that would possibly impact the paper deterioration process and thus have influence on
the transformer lifetime eventually.
The aging experiment was performed according to IEC 62332-2. Sealed glass tubes were filled with
kraft paper and thin pressboard together with either laminated pressboard or laminated wood as well as
copper and magnetic steel. The solid insulation was vacuum dried and then oil impregnated with trace
inhibited mineral oil. Subsequently, the accelerated aging was carried out at three constant
temperatures: 125, 140, 155 °C. During the test which lasted up to 8000 hours, the degree of
polymerization (DP) as well as the tensile strength of the paper were regularly measured and recorded.
For all temperatures, the decomposition of the paper was significantly increased in the presence of
plywood: the DP loss was quicker and the tensile strength decrease occurred markedly faster in the
tubes containing wood. The evaluation of the tensile retention according to Arrhenius' law revealed a
difference of more than 50 % shorter lifetime when compared with laminated pressboard. It was found
that the selection of thick laminated insulation components of power transformers has distinct impact
on paper aging and thus on lifetime: choosing laminated pressboard made from sheets of high
chemical purity instead of wood veneer preserves the paper notably better. Extrapolating the small-
scale experimental results, it is concluded that using laminated insulation products from wood veneer
instead of pressboard of high purity kraft pulp can shorten transformer lifetime drastically because the
conductor paper gets brittle in half the time.

KEYWORDS
Laminated, pressboard, wood, aging, DP, tensile strength, kraft paper, transformer, lifetime.
christoph.krause@wicor.com
1. INTRODUCTION

Coils of oil cooled power transformers are most commonly insulated with materials as "cellulosic
papers for electrical purposes" [1] and with materials as "pressboard and presspaper for electrical
purposes" [2], made from kraft pulp of high chemical purity, explicitly free from extraneous material.
Yet, the maximum thickness of pressboard sheets is 8 mm. Hence, for spacer blocks, thick and thin
beams of the cleat system, for winding clamping rings and platforms, for threaded rods and nuts and
for thick boards of various functions, laminated cellulosic products are being used, which are produced
with two different manufacturing techniques.
The first type is laminated pressboard [3] made from high-density pressboard. The base materials are
pressboard sheets according to IEC 60641, bonded together with a specified adhesive, which is either
casein-type glue or non-aqueous resin. The second type is laminated wood ("plywood") made from
wood veneer bonded together, using a thermosetting synthetic resin adhesive [4]. The veneer plies are
mainly cut from beech trees, yet maple or birch is also commonly used.
Whilst the aging behaviour of the highly clean cellulosic insulation kraft paper and pressboard is well
known and reported in literature e.g. [5-15], relatively little is known and published regarding
laminated block materials [16, 17]. The objective of the present study was to determine potential aging
behaviour differences between the two laminated block material types, in particular whether and how
aging by-products would interact differently with the paper in the system, which could impact the
paper deterioration process and thus have influence on the transformer lifetime eventually.

2. EXPERIMENT

An accelerated aging test was chosen to serve the purpose. It was decided to carry out the procedure of
"thermal evaluation of combined liquid and solid components" as described in IEC 62332-2 [18]. The
sealed glass tubes had a volume of 180 ml, and were equipped with a 150 kPa pressure relief jig,
Fig. 1. They were filled with kraft paper, thin low-density (LD) pressboard and non-glued high-density
(HD) pressboard together with either laminated pressboard or laminated wood. Both IEC standards of
laminated pressboard were investigated: casein-type glue and non-aqueous resin (polyester). The
control tubes contained the equivalent quantity of 2 mm HD pressboard instead of the laminated
material. Magnetic core steel (surface 10 cm2) and copper (surface 3 cm2) was added. The overall
insulation mass ratio of liquid to solid 7.6:1 was satisfied. Table I and Table II give the details of the
insulation in the glass vials.

TABLE I Glass tubes insulation content and dimensions TABLE II Type of insulation and standards

The solid insulation was vacuum dried and subsequently oil impregnated with trace inhibited mineral
oil. After sealing, the accelerated aging was carried out at three constant oven temperatures – 125, 140,
155 °C – over a period of up to 8000 hours (Table III). The following parameters were measured, for
which the tubes had to be opened at a time: degree of polymerization (DP acc. IEC 60450) and the
tensile strength of the paper (acc. ISO 1924). Due to the opening and physical paper sample use, the
tubes contents had to be scrapped after the measurements. For this reason, a total of 60 tubes were
required: 5 glass tubes were prepared for each of the 4 high-density board types, multiplied by 3 for
the temperatures.

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TABLE III Aging temperatures and time
elapsed to measuring points

Temperature Measuring point (h)

125 °C 0 2000 4000 6000 8000
140 °C 0 500 1000 1500 2000
155 °C 0 100 200 300 400

Fig. 1 Glass tubes with pressure relief system inside the hot
air oven

3. RESULTS

Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate the variation of the tensile strength retention and of the DP of the kraft paper
over the aging time. The behaviour of the paper was not identical for all cases: Significantly faster
paper deterioration could be identified in tubes containing plywood (purple curves). The other tubes,
which contained the control of HD pressboard and two types of laminated pressboard, revealed
approximately the same slower paper aging rate, both for tensile strength retention and DP.

Fig. 2 Tensile strength of kraft paper vs. aging time Fig. 3 DP of kraft paper vs. aging time

4. EVALUATION

According to the IEC 62332-2 standard, the obtained measurements can be used for determining the
temperature/time behaviour according to the Arrhenius equation. For this, the curves were first fitted
mathematically as Fig. 4 illustrates exemplarily for two cases. Subsequently, the arbitrarily chosen
end-of-life condition of tensile retention 55 % and DP 200 respectively, Figure 5, was evaluated. The
corresponding values are given in Table IV and Table V and plotted in logarithmic scales with
extrapolated straight lines, Fig. 6 and Fig. 7.
The evaluation according to the above described procedure produced the following result: Whilst the
vials containing unglued pressboard or laminated pressboard (casein or polyester) behaved almost
identically, the paper in the vials containing plywood aged significantly faster: this came out in either
a lower operational temperature by 8∼10 K for the same lifetime, or in a lifetime reduction of 60∼70 %
at an operational temperature of 98 °C.

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 Fig. 4 DP curves fitting (example) for the control Fig. 5 Tensile strength retention versus
and the plywood tubes degree of polymerization

Table IV Calculated temperatures (°C) to reach Table V Calculated operational times (h) to reach
retained TS 55 % or DP 200 after retained TS 55 % or DP 200 at 98 °C
150'000 h (17.1 years)

Fig. 6 55 % Retained tensile strength evaluation of Fig. 7 DP 200 evaluation of temperature difference
temperature difference and of lifetime and of lifetime reduction
reduction

In [17], the authors had reported enhanced moisture increase and significantly pronounced acidity
increase for aging vessels containing plywood. The results from the present study confirm that finding
and suggest that the aging intensifying by-products, water and acids, are partially carried by the oil
from the plywood to and into the paper, accelerating the aging process of the paper.

5. CONCLUSION

The present work has demonstrated that different cellulosic components combined in an oil-cooled
insulation system do not age independently from each other. Instead, the surrounding oil functions as
an effective transportation medium for aging by-products, which impact all cellulosic components
present in the insulation system.
The results clearly indicate that aggressive by-products are readily generated by plywood, in contrast
to laminated pressboard of either casein or non-aqueous adhesive type. This can be explained by the
fact that the process for making kraft pulp, used as the base material for manufacturing laminated
pressboard, removes most of the lignin and other reactive components found in wood, leaving mostly
cellulose fibres [19].

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The lifetime of the paper component of the insulation system was decreased by more than 50 % when
plywood was included in the system, when evaluated according to IEC 62332-2. As this difference is
striking, it is suggested to carefully select and declare in the materials' specification the type of
laminated cellulosic insulation components to be used: not only considering the dielectric and
mechanical performance, but in equal measure considering oil contamination effects and induced
harming impact on paper durability.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] IEC 60554 Specification for cellulosic papers for electrical purposes, 1977 (first edition)
[2] IEC 60641 Specification for pressboard and presspaper for electrical purposes, 2007
[3] IEC 60763 Laminated pressboard for electrical purposes, 2010
[4] IEC 61061 Non-impregnated densified laminated wood for electrical purposes, 2006
[5] V.M. Montsinger, "Loading transformers by temperature", Trans. AIEE, Vol. 49, Iss. 2, April
1930, pp. 776-790
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[12] A.M. Emsley et al., "Degradation of cellulosic insulation in power transformers. Part 4: Effects
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[16] H.P. Moser, V. Dahinden, Transformerboard II, Chapter S.3.1.10, Styria Graz, Austria, 1987,
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laminated wood in oil cooled power transformers", ISEI Conference, Toronto, 2006,
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[18] IEC 62332-2 Electrical insulation systems (EIS) – thermal evaluation of combined liquid and
solid components, 2014
[19] H-P. Moser, Transformerboard, Chapter B, Scientia Electrica, 1979, pp. 20-30