Towards intelligent insulation technologies

With polymer insulation being more and more widely used in high voltage applications, there is much scope for the introduction of “smart” moieties into the bulk polymer in order to fulfill application-specific requirements. For example, electric field sensitive fluorophores can be designed and introduced into the dielectric such that changes in fluorescent properties are indicative of the local electrical environment or dielectric degradation. This paper will describe initial investigations into the dielectric behavior of a model system whereby fluorescent solid supported pyrene (filler) was blended into bulk polystyrene (PS). The electrical breakdown strength, fluorescent response and dielectric loss of the blended samples were compared in order to determine the effects of fluorescent filler introduction on electrical properties of PS.