Voltage-Stabilizer-Grafted SiO2 Increases the Breakdown Voltage of the Cycloaliphatic Epoxy Resin

Cycloaliphatic epoxy (CE) resin plays a vital role in insulation equipment due to its excellent insulation and processability. However, the insufficient ability of CE to confine electrons under high voltage often leads to an electric breakdown, which limits its wide applications in high-voltage insulation equipment. In this work, the interface effect of inorganic nano-SiO2 introduces deep traps to capture electrons, which is synergistic with the inherent ability of the voltage stabilizer m-aminobenzoic acid (m-ABA) to capture high-energy electrons through collision. Therefore, the insulation failure rate is reduced owing to doping of the functionalized nanoparticles of the m-ABA-grafted nano-SiO2 (m-ABA-SiO2) into the CE. It is worth noting that the breakdown field strength of this m-ABA-SiO2/CE reaches 53 kV/mm, which is 40.8% higher than that of pure CE. In addition, the tensile strength and volume resistivity of m-ABA-SiO2/CE are increased by 29.1 and 140%, respectively. Meanwhile, the glass transition temperature was increased by about 25 °C and reached 213 °C. This work proves that the comprehensive performance of CE-based nanocomposites is effectively improved by m-ABA-SiO2 nanoparticles, showing great application potential in high-voltage insulated power equipment.