The Surface Leakage Currents Anaalysis of

Epoxy Resin-Silane with Silica Sannd Filler

Insulators in The Artificial Ageing Conditions
Hermawan
Electrical Engineering Departement
Faculty of Engineering - Diponnegoro University
Semarang, Indoneesia
hermawan60@gmaiil.com
Abdul Syakur, Tommy Perdana Putra
Electrical Engineering Departement
Faculty of Engineering - Dipponegoro University
Semarang, Indoonesia
gakusei2003@yahhoo.com

Abstract —Insulators with epoxy resin maaterials have been

developed and used in transmission and distrib bution lines. Epoxy
resin insulator performance is stronglyy influenced by
environmental conditions especially in the troopical areas, which
have high humidity levels and the effect off UV exposure. To
improve the surface properties of epoxy reesin materials, the
addition of silicon rubber (silane) are usefu ful to increase the
hydrophobic contact angle on the material surfface.
This paper presents research resu ults on samples of
epoxy resin-silane with 25% silica sand fillerr material, NH4Cl
contaminants, in the artificial ageing conditioons by varying UV
exposure, using the method of measurement reefers to the IEC 587
standard. Variation of duration UV exposu ure is intended to
analyze the effect of duration of exposure to the
t performance of
an insulating material with the leakage currentt parameter.
Based on measured data and th he discussion was
concluded that the duration UV exposure on the surface of the
test sample affects the material performance. This
T is indicated by
the increasing leakage current particularly onn the surface of the
test material which is exposed by the longest UV (96 hours).
II. BASIC C THEORY
A. Polymer as Insulation Mateerials [10]
Insulating material which
w is known is currently
material of porcelain / ceramic and glass, but now has
began to develop other materials that have a higher
capability, that is polymeer material. Research on the
characteristics of the pollymer material is still being
conducted before it is used as
a materials for insulators.
B. Epoxy resin [10]
Epoxy resin is a thhermoset products made from
bisphenol A epoxy resin annd ripening agents. Manufacture
of thermoset products usingg additives (additive) in the form
of material reaction acceleerator (accelerator), plasticizer,
filler, and coloring. The reaction
r formation of diglysidil
Ether of Bisphenol A are shoown as follows.

Keywords-UV rays; leakage current; surface tracking; silica

I. INTRODUCTION
At this time the material glass insulaators and insulator
ceramic/porcelain are widely used. This typee of insulator has a
high mass density that would overload trransmission tower
because of the weight. This insulatoor requires high
temperatures in the manufacturing process so it takes large
energy [3].
On the other hand, the performance of an innsulator is strongly Fig. 1. The formatioon reaction of DGEBA
influenced by environmental conditions. Mooreover in tropical
areas with temperature, humidity, pressure and a high levels of
pollution where the insulator is installed veery affects the the C. Epoxy Resin maturation [100]
performance of insulating materials. Layers of pollutants that This study uses the ripening aggent of epoxy resin amine group
are attached to the insulator in the dry condditions has a high of MPDA (metaphylene - diaamine), which is a light yellow
resistance, and during wet conditions thesse impurities will liquid material with molecular weight 108, chemical structure
decrease dielectric strength of the insulaator surface. This provides 4 active hydrogen atooms form bonds of epoxy resin
situation will cause salt in the pollutants foorming electrolyte prepared as shown below :
solution that can conduct electric current. Inn addition from the
pollutants that are attached to the insulaator surface, UV
radiation will also accelerate the degradationn process that can
be seen by the color change and thee appearance of
calcification on the surface of the insulating polymer
p [1, 2, 3].
Fig. 2. Chemical structure of the MPDA
D. Sillicone Rubber Glue 5 mm. Test materials mustt be drilled prior to placing the
Silicon rubber is a mixture of epooxy resin insulator electrodes.[5]
and resistant to high temperatures. This glue has a high
hydrophobic properties, thus the surfacee conductivity of
insulators remain low, which can minim mize the leakage
current.

E. Silica sand
The use of silica sand filler materrial is intended to
modify the performance of these polym mers to improve
mechanical properties such as increased therrmal conductivity,
lower thermal expansion and to lower the water absorption
Fig. 4. Dimensions off the sample test materials[5]
properties. The use of filler material is intennded as an attempt
to reduce the cost of manufacturing castings.[4] B. Electrode

F. Leakage Current All the electrodes, and other elements such as screw should
be made of stainless steel. Electrode
E assembly can be seen in
Leakage currents are currents flow wing between two the following figure.
electrodes of different voltage due to the inability of an upper electrode
insulator to isolate the voltage applied. TheT magnitude of filter paper
surface leakage current of outdoor insulatorrs depends on the
condition of the pollutants that cause contam
mination of surface Test distance
and weather conditions. Increasing leakkage current will
accelerate the degradation of the polymer onn the surface of an
insulating material which is characterized byy the occurrence of
electrical discharge several times which is the cause of the screw
screw
flashover. This phenomenon marks the inssulation failure on
the surface of the insulator material.

lower electrodde
G. Ultraviolet Radiation
One cause of the degradation of the polymer insulator
surface material is UV radiation. Polym mer insulators are Fig. 5. Position of the uppper and lower electrodes[11]
exposed to UV rays will slowly lose their waater-repellent. This
C. Contaminants [5]
is caused by aging which are characteriized by chemical
oxidation process at the time of UV lightt absorbed by the 1. Specification used is 0.1 ± 0.002% of analytical quality
surface material resulting in breaking the bonds
b between the mass Ammonium Chhloride (NH4Cl) and 0.02 ±
molecules in the polymer material. 0.002% by mass of waater. These contaminants should
have resistifitas 3.95 ± 0.05 Ωm at 23 ± 1oC.
Contaminants must nott be older than four weeks and
III. RESEARCH METHOD DOLOGY should be checked priorr resistifitas each test.
Testing samples of test materials reffers to the standard
2. Eight-layer filter paperss, which is clamped between the
isolator made by the method of IEC 587:19984 Inclined-Plane
upper electrode and thee test material as a contaminant
Tracking (IPT), using contaminants Amm monium Chloride
reservoir.
(NH4Cl) which flowed on the surface of the test sample which
has been subjected to UV exposure with the t length of time
variation of UV exposure.
A. Materials Testing
Test material used in this study is ann epoxy resin with
DGEBA 30%, 30% MPDA hardener maaterial, mixed with
glue Sillicon rubber 20%, and silica saand filler material
20%. Based on Berahim [3], the compossition has the most
optimal performance that can be propoosed to be a high Fig. 6. Eighht-layer filter papers [11]
voltage insulator material. Test materiall has a flat shape
measuring at least 50 mm x 120 mm with w a thickness of
 3. Contaminants flowed to filter paper inn order to place the F. The results of leakage current data recording
flow of contaminants from the top annd bottom electrode
uniformly before the voltage is applieed. Leakage current meaasurements carried out with an
oscilloscope. To overcom me the large voltage into the
D. Test circuit oscilloscope, the voltage diivider circuit is used as follows
[5].
Test circuit is shown in Fig. 7. Tests carrried out at 3.5 kV
high voltage. A good grounding is requuired. Test circuit
consist of :
1. Power supply 48 Hz - 64 Hz witth a stable output
voltage Oscilloscope
voltage of ± 5% which can be varied up to 6 kV with an measured input voltage
average current not less than 0.1 A for each test
material.
2. Voltmeter readings with accuracy 1.5%

Fig. 9. Voltage divider circuit

Value of resistancce on the voltage divider circuit

is as follows: R1 = 680 ohhms, R2 = 920 ohm, R3 = 100
ohm, R4 = 820, R 5 = 10,0000 ohms. From the calculation
of resistance value above thhe voltage divider circuit can be
determined by the leakage current value 0.02728529412 x
Voutput, which is Voutputt voltage (Vrms) is read on the
oscilloscope.
Leakage current measurement
m results recorded by
pressing a button on the osscilloscope with automatic data
Fig. 7. Test Circuit[11] can be stored into the USB B flasdisk. Do this until the test
sample insulator material too form a fire lane and eventually
E. Ultraviolet Radiatiot burn. This means that thee material failed to isolate the
Influence of ultraviolet rays on epooxy resin insulator voltage as indicated by the appearance of sinusoidal
material can be determined by test the influence of diagram on the oscilloscopee.
ultraviolet rays. Radiation was perforrmed in a room
measuring 50 cm x 50 cm x 50 cm wiith a slope of 450
(ASTM 2303). The room is made of woood with aluminum
foil coated with the side in order for it to ultraviolet rays
radiated optimally and to prevent leakkage of ultraviolet
rays out of the box. This box can containn a number of test
samples up to 15 pieces of insulation.
Sources of ultraviolet light from m the ultraviolet
fluorescent lamp 4 pieces of the brandd Philips 15 Watt
ultraviolet radiation to simulate the avverage UV power
intensity - average 21.28 Watt/m2 (IEC C 1109:1992). For
the form of ultraviolet light radiation on insulating
i samples
more details can be seen in Fig. 8.
Fig.10. Formation of carbonn track on the surface of the material

Figures below are thee results of normal images and

photographs showing the ennlarged 30 time the surface
degradation in the form of eroosion, cracking and calcification
after the breakdown on the surfface of the insulating.

Fig. 8. UV Radiation box


Fig. 11. The results of the epoxy resin surface photo [4]
IV. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
Leakage current measurement results on the test sample shown
in picture form the voltage waveform on the oscilloscope.
Value of the voltage waveform is a voltage input of the
oscilloscope voltage divider circuit. A voltage divider circuit is
needed to address the big voltage input into the oscilloscope.
The amount of leakage current can be calculated using the
following equations:
I1 = 0.0272853 VCF
I1 = leakage current (mA)
VCF = voltage readings on the oscilloscope (mV)
Example of leakage current measurements on epoxy resin
silanes with silica sand filler materials that were given
ultraviolet radiation shown in Fig. 12.
Fig. 12. leakage current of samples with 24 hours of UV filler 25 grams
Based on the Fig. 12 shows that the first currents
discharge occurred after 4.6 seconds with a current of
0.190997059 mA.
In this test, electrical discharge occurs with marked
changes in the magnitude of the leakage current of a sudden
either positive polarity or negative polarity. This electrical
discharge occurs many times, then there is a failure isolation is
characterized by a sinusoidal wave leakage current. The
Sinusoidal wave is not a pure sinusoidal but distorted
sinusoidal waveform. This is because the combustion process
of the insulating material. Insulation failure is indicated by an
complete conduction track is formed starting from the bottom
electrode (connected to a measuring instrument) to a high
voltage source electrode (upper electrode). Formation of
conduction path from the cathode side due to the cathode
serves as the primary provider of the initial electron will
initiate the discharge. While the surface leakage current occurs
simultaneously with the flow of contaminants from the upper
electrode, which makes the surface becomes conductive,
because of NH4Cl. After the first failure insulation, the time
required for the burning process on the surface of test material
depends on the quality of test material samples how long a
given exposure to UV light. The longer a given UV radiation
on the surface of the burning process of the test material will
be relatively faster than those not given the material to UV
light.
Electrical discharge process can be observed from the
impulse waveform shown oscilloscope. This electrical
discharge process can be observed from the recorded impulse
waveform on the oscilloscope. Electrical discharge caused the
spark that led to the carbonization and vaporization at the
surface of the insulating material resulting in carbon track
permanently, this process is the cumulative and continuous.
Insulation failure may occur when the track is formed between
the electrodes carbonation. It is this carbon pathway
conduction path in the insulating material. This phenomenon
is often called the tracking surface.
From the results of testing leakage current, leakage
current value of sample 1, sample 2, and 3 samples for each
(1) test material are given variations in ultraviolet radiation and
the composition of silica sand filler material searched an
average value.
TABEL I
TEST RESULTS OF THE LEAKAGE CURRENT AT THE FIRST
DISCHARGE ON TEST MATERIAL SURFACE
A. Effect of UV radiation duration on the leakage current at the
first discharge
To determine the relationship and the influence of ultraviolet
radiation duration of the leakage current by observing the leakage
current that occurs in every variation of the composition of silica
 sand filler. Testing the timing of the leakagge current was first
performed each 3 times. This test producees a voltage leak is
indicated by the voltage waveform on the oscilloscope image.
The following figure is an example of grapphic material on the
surface leakage current and discharge time of the first times of
leakage current.
Leakage Current (mA)
UV Radiation (hours)
Fig.13. Graph the average leakage current of thee sample varying the
duration of UV radiation
The graph of test results (Fig. 13) shhows the surface
leakage current increases significantly forr all test materials,
either treated or not with ultraviolet radiiation and for any
variation in the composition of silica sandd filler
When the insulator absorbs ultraviolet ligght there will be a
process of heating and oxidation willl cause chemical
reactions in the insulator, which would certainly
c affect the
the magnitude leakage current. Photon ennergy absorbed by
the insulator surface will change the surfface characteristics
of the test material chemically, so that the insulator surface
will degrade the surface resistivity due to weak bonding
functional group or bond due to disconnection of
functional groups[2]. This resulted in the decrease
properties water-repellent (hydrophobic) on the surface of
an insulating material and cause propertiees attractive forces
between molecules on the surface of an insulating
i material
with higher pollutant contaminants. The higher the
adhesive properties both materials at a the molecular
pollutants will cause contaminants to flow more easily
from high-voltage electrode and the grouunding electrode to
be quickly absorbed into the surface of the insulator
material. This causes the surface resistaance of insulating
materials on the downside, so the longeer the radiation to
UV light, allowing the increase of leakaage current on the
surface of the insulating material.
B. Effect of UV Radiation duration on first discharge
d Garam (NaCl) Dengan Bahann Pengisi Pasir Silika Dan Lem Silikon”,
The graph of test results in Fig. 14 show
ws that the duration
of exposure to ultraviolet light in the tesst material, it will
cause an accelerated time of discharge firrst occurs.
Time of discharge (s)
UV Raadiation (hours)
Fig. 14 Graph of the dischargee first time varying the UV radiation.
The test sample withoout exposure to ultraviolet light
are able to survive up to 8044 seconds to discharge the first
occurred. Once the sample is subjected to UV exposure for 24
h, 48 h, 72 h, and 96 hours, cause the first discharge terjad
faster and almost the same, so the graph formed as a
horizontal line along the time variation
v of ultraviolet radiation.
The more quickly the first disscharge occurred because at the
time of test material was givenn insulator UV rays for 24 hours,
the chemical bonding functiional group of an insulating
material and have not had tim me to cut down first. Therefore,
testing of the samples were subbjected to UV during the next 48
hours, 72 hours, and 96 hours ofo discharge first occurred about
the same on the surface of the material.
m
V. CON
NCLUSION
Based on the data obbtained and the discussion that
has been carried out, it can bee concluded that the duration UV
exposure on the surface of thee test sample affects the material
performance. The longer duratio
on of ultraviolet radiation on the
sample test materials silane epooxy resin insulators, the leakage
current on the surface of thhe material will rise and may
accelerate the process of eleectrical discharge compared to
unirradiated material. This is inndicated by the increasing leakage
current particularly on the surfaace of the test material which is
exposed by the longest UV (96 hoours).
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