Investigation of Mixture of Epoxy Resin/Palm Kernel Shell as Insulation

Abstract

Palm  kernel  shells  have  a  high  mechanical  strength  and  good insulation  strength.  From  these  results  it  can  be  concluded  that breakdown  voltage  of  epoxy  resin/palm  kernel  shells  is  higher than pure resin or resin/alumina. The highest breakdown voltage that  occurred  in  the  resin/palm  kernel  shells  (8  wt%)  is  76  kV. While the highest breakdown voltage that occurred in the epoxy resin/alumina (17 wt%) is 57.15 kV. Breakdown voltages of both samples  are  higher  than  the  pure  epoxy  resin  of  36  kV.  The maximum  electric field density (Emax)  in  the pure resin is 0.24 MV/cm that is lower than the resin/palm kernel shell (8 wt%) of 0.51  MV/cm  and  the  resin/alumina  (17  wt%)  of  0.38  MV/cm. Discharge current has a lot of pulses and high amplitude when all solid  insulation  approached  the  breakdown  event.  However,  the current pulses in the pure resin are higher than in both resin/palm kernel  shell  and  resin/alumina.  The  epoxy  resin  mixture  with palm kernel shells can be used as a new solid insulator.