A.C. Breakdown Properties of Cotton Fabric-Solidified Alcohol Solution Composite Systems at 77 K

Synopsis: The development of environment-friendly material as a substitute for glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP) is required for cryogenic electrical insulation. Our laboratory has studied the A.C. breakdown properties of solidified alcohol solutions at 77 K. In many cases, the A.C. breakdown voltages of solidified solutions were higher than that of ice. From these results, it is suggested that the breakdown voltage can be improved by mixing with alcohol. However, the breakdown voltage dispersion of solidified solutions was large. The suppression of dispersion is required for practical application. Therefore, an attempt was made to suppress dispersion of the breakdown voltage by combination with cotton fabric. In this paper, we observed A.C. breakdown voltages of cotton fabric-solidified alcohol (ethylene glycol, 1,3-propanediol, propylene glycol or glycerin) solution composite systems. The following results were obtained. 1) The dispersion of breakdown voltage in cotton fabricsolidified alcohol solution composite systems was suppressed. 2) The minimum breakdown voltages of cotton fabric-solidified solution composite systems were higher than those of solidified solutions. 3) The average breakdown voltage of cotton fabricsolidified solution composite systems was higher than that of the cotton fabric-ice composite system.