Curing Characteristic Analysis and Leakage Current Performances of Silicone Rubber via Inclined Plane Tracking (IPT) Test

Abstract

Researches are still being performed all around the world in order to explore the unique insulating behavior of Silicone Rubber (SiR) material. Hence, this research is performed in order to analyze more on the effect of SiR formulation with different filler content, their curing characteristic and their effect upon sample performances electrically. Firstly, SiR will be formulated with three different concentration of Alumina Trihydrate (ATH) of 10wt%, 20wt% and 30wt% together with Dicumyl peroxide (DCP) as the curing agent. The cure characteristic of the SiR with all three different concentrations were tested using rheometer in accordance to ASTM D5289. The prepared SiR materials were then tested according to the standard of BSEN 60587 Inclined Plane Tracking (IPT) test in order to analyze their performances electrically via leakage current (LC) values. It was found that increase in filler loadings were followed by increase in crosslinking density (MH) and decrease in scorch time (TS2). The cure time increases with increase in filler loadings. The increase in filler loading up to 30wt% together with crosslinking density (MH) have contributed towards a SiR material with great electrical properties. The highest ATH loadings of 30wt% displayed the highest crosslinking density, lowest scorch time, highest cure time and lowest LC value of 9.7 mA. In overall, a combination of proper ATH filler loading contributes to a high crosslinking density and higher resistance of sample against tracking and erosion and hence a lower LC value.