Effect of Electric Field and Temperature on the Behavior of Polypropylene Filled with Nanometric Natural Clay

During the last two decades, when compared with pure polymers, nanocomposites have exhibited improved mechanical, thermal, optical and physico-chemical properties, owing to the nanometric particles. Among many other applications polypropylene has found place in electrical systems as a dielectric material. One of these applications is the usage of very thin sheets of polypropylene in high-performance pulse and low-loss RF capacitors as the dielectric medium. Another application is in the power cables as an insulating medium. In an earlier study, the present authors have observed that the breakdown strength improved in polypropylene loaded with nanoclay of various contents. The aim of this study, therefore, is to evaluate the time-to-failure of polypropylene (PP) and polypropylene-based nanocomposite films under the influence of electric field and temperature at the same time because to our best knowledge there is a lack of information in relation to such data.