Investigation on the electrical properties of palm oil and coconut oil based TiO2 nanofluids

This paper presents an examination on the electrical properties of Palm Oil (PO) and Coconut Oil (CO) under the presence of semi-conductive nanoparticle, Titanium (IV) Oxide (TiO
₂
). The type of PO used in this study was Refined, Bleached and Deodorized Palm Oil (RBDPO) Olein. TiO2 was dispersed into RBDPO and CO at volume concentrations ranging from 0.001% to 0.05%. The effect of surfactant, Cetrimonium Bromide (CTAB) was also examined and the morphology of RBDPO and CO based TiO
₂
nanofluid was observed through Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). A number of measurements were carried out including the AC/lightning breakdown voltages, dielectric dissipation factor, relative permittivity and resistivity. Statistical analysis was carried out through Weibull distribution to determine the AC and lightning withstand voltages at 1% probability for RBDPO and CO. It is found that without CTAB, there are only slight improvements on the AC breakdown voltages of the RBDPO and CO with introduction of TiO
₂
but could decrease with presence of CTAB. The same pattern is found for lightning breakdown voltages of RBDPO and CO under non-uniform field where the highest percentages of increments decrease with introduction of CTAB while the effect is not apparent under quasi-uniform field. Significant effect of CTAB is found on the dielectric dissipation factors and resistivity of RBDPO and CO based TiO
₂
nanofluid while the relative permittivity are not affected. The statistical analyses reveal that RBDPO and CO experience apparent increments of the AC breakdown voltages at 1% probability after the introduction of TiO
₂
regardless with or without CTAB. The improvements done by TiO
₂
on the lightning breakdown voltages at 1% probability for all samples with CTAB under quasi-uniform field are more apparent than non-uniform field.