| Summary: | Epoxy resin is a thermosetting polymeric material. This material is very good
for application of high or extra high voltage outdoor insulator in electrical power
system. Epoxy resin polymeric insulating material has several advantages, i.e. high
dielectric strength, light weight, high mechanical strength, easy to blend with
additive, and easy maintenance if compared with that of porcelain and glass outdoor
insulators which are commonly used especially in Indonesia. However, epoxy resin
material has several disadvantage, i.e. has hydrophilic property, very sensitive in the
environment with high temperature, humidity, and intensity of ultraviolet radiation
which will cause decreases of epoxy resin performance. Such environment is
commonly seen in tropical climate area in Indonesia.
The study towards improving the performance of epoxy resin polymeric
insulating material has been carried out, in order to obtain EP-RHA polymeric
insulating material which is the new name proposed by researcher. EP-RHA
polymeric insulating material was made in room temperature vulcanization with
material composition: Diglycidyl Ether of Bisphenol A (DGEBA), Meta Phenylene
Diamine (MPDA) as hardener with stochiometric value of unity, and 325 mesh Rice
Husk Ash (RHA) filler mixed with Polysiloxane (SiR) with 10% (RTVEP1),
20%(RTVEP2), 30%(RTVEP3), 40%(RTVEP4), and 50%(RTVEP5) variation. The usage
of polysiloxane and RHA as filler is expected to provide hydrophobic property and
physical strength in epoxy resin polymeric insulating material against tropical climate
effect. The research was conducted in Yogyakarta, a city in Indonesia that has typical
tropical climate.
The experiment was carried out by two methods: 1) the natural aging was
installed with natural tropical climate exposure which was conducted at Electrical
Engineering and Information Technology of Gadjah Mada University building,
Yogyakarta, Indonesia. EP-RHA Polymeric insulating material test samples were
placed outdoor for 52 weeks, and tested their performances every 2 weeks
|
|---|