Study on RTV silicone rubber/SiO2 electrical insulation nanocomposites

Surface contamination and leakage current have caused operating problems for utilities since electric power was its infancy. A flashover in a substation may result in the destruction of an insulator or many others electrical equipments. In order to reduce the incidence of insulator flashover and damage, the liquid silicone RTV (room temperature vulcanized) has been used for coating porcelain and glass insulators to provide water repellency (hydrophobicity) on the surface. Nano science and technology (nano-st) is a promising research field. In this paper, from previous research results in the other research fields, we decide to select nanoSiO₂ to try to reform RTVSR. First, different kinds of nano SiO₂ from different fabrication methods such as sol-gel and gas phase method etc are selected. Then dispersal situation of nano SiO₂ synthesized by different ways and disposed with or without coupling agents in RTV silicone rubber were studied and analyzed with SEM. Some basic properties of RTVSR/SiO₂ nanocomposites and pure RTVSR were compared and analyzed in detail. In addition, some electrical performances tests are also conducted, and the influences to the electrical parameters such as tan δ, and ρ_v were found as well, considering that RTV silicone rubber was a kind of electrical insulation materials. The resulting hybrid had more excellent mechanical, thermal stability than pure RTV silicone rubber.