Influences of degree of curing and presence of inorganic fillers on the ultimate electrical properties of epoxy-based composites: experiment and simulation

This paper describes both an experimental study and a numerical investigation of the breakdown field in particle reinforced thermosets. The experimental study revealed that the increase of the conversion degree (alpha) of the epoxy matrix improved the breakdown voltages both in divergent and quasi-homogeneous fields. It was also observed that the presence of the second phase (mineral filler) dispersed within the polymeric host led to apparently contradictory results depending on the nature of the electric field. The neat matrix exhibited a higher field to breakdown than that of the composite In a quasi-homogeneous field configuration whereas the opposite behaviour was evidenced in a point-plane configuration. It thus appeared that the filler can either increase or decrease the breakdown voltage, depending on the nature of the electrode configuration. To further understand this behaviour, a deterministic numerical simulation of the dielectric breakdown that accounts for the organization within real composites was developed. This numerical method, based on the resistor-short breakdown model was improved to directly account for the real phase arrangement within the samples through scanning electron micrographs. The simulation furnished the explanation for the apparent disagreement, showing that the inorganic particles protect the composite in divergent fields through a mechanism similar in nature to the so-called barrier effect, whereas the same fillers were responsible for a local intensification of the electric field and thereby a reduction of the dielectric strength in a quasi-homogeneous field.