Compatibility of Eco-Friendly Gas-Insulated Medium HFO-1234ze(E) with Copper and Aluminum

HFO-1234ze(E), as a new eco-friendly gas-insulated medium, demonstrates promising application prospects in medium voltage gas insulated equipment (GIE). Considering the existence of the temperature-rise effect and partial overheating fault in GIE, the evaluation of the compatibility of HFO-1234ze(E) with widely used metallic copper and aluminum in GIE is necessary. Herein, we explore the interaction of HFO-1234ze(E) with copper and aluminum at 100–200°C by investigating the metal surface morphology, elemental composition as well as gas composition. It is found that the interaction of HFO-1234ze(E) with the copper interface at 17S-200°C precipitates a large number of cubic crystals, while the morphology of aluminum demonstrates no obvious change at 100–200°C. The gas composition is stable with no by-products generated after interaction. Density functional theory analysis also confirms that the C=C group in HFO-1234ze(E) demonstrates stronger interaction with Cu (1 1 1) with the new Cu-F chemical bonds formed and dominates the corrosion of copper. The related results provide an important reference for the engineered applications of HFO-1234ze(E).