Observations on the resistive losses and the electrostatic field distribution in an insulating nanocomposite

It has been reported that adding insulating nanoparticles to an epoxy like polymers increases its dielectric breakdown strength. Thermal runaway can act as one of several precursors to the electrical breakdown process, and resistive losses can be an underlying cause of the temperature increase. In this paper, to examine the influence of nanoparticles on the breakdown strength, the magnitude of the electric field distribution and its corresponding resistive losses around insulating Al₂O₃-nanoparticles has been determined for linear and non-linear epoxy polymer media w.r.t. filling degree of particles. The dc-E-field distribution has been ascertained using both analytical and numerical methods. It was observed that nanoparticle addition to a polymer creates both “no heating” regions and “significant heating” regions in the close vicinity of the interface.