Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol.79, No.12, 2164-2169, 2001
Delamination mechanism of high-voltage coil insulators made from mice flakes and thermosetting epoxy resin
To clarify the delamination mechanism of high-voltage coil insulators made from mica flakes and epoxy resin due to static mechanical stress, the relationships between the shear strength of the insulator and the physical properties of the component materials were studied. The mechanism of their delamination was thought to be either a lack of epoxy resin between the mica flakes, interface failure between the mica flakes and the epoxy resin, or cleavage of the mica flakes. The first two mechanisms were discounted because the shear strength of the insulator was found to be independent of both the contact angle of the corresponding liquid epoxy resin on the mica flakes and the critical surface tension of the epoxy resin. Furthermore, the shear strength of the model insulator was improved by using an epoxy resin with a higher bending elastic modulus, implying that the delamination mechanism in this system is the cleavage of mica flakes. Therefore, the epoxy resin should have a high elastic modulus to ensure high delamination resistance, that is, the temperature to which the insulators are exposed should be lower than the glass transition temperature of the corresponding epoxy resin. Optical microscope studies also supported these results.