Novel methods to formulate polymer nanocomposites and tailor their dielectric behavior (NANOCOM) Impact Day

Transcription

1 Novel methods to formulate polymer nanocomposites and tailor their Impact Day

2 Novel methods to formulate polymer nanocomposites and tailor their Project Manager: Kari Kannus (Tampere University of Technology, TUT) Period: Research partners: Dep. of Electrical Energy Engineering at TUT, VTT Advanced Materials, Dep. of Physics at TUT, Nanoscience Center at University of Jyväskylä Companies involved: Borealis Polymers N.V. (Franck Jacobs), Sachtleben Pigments Oy (Juha Kuusivaara), FP-Pigments Oy (Roope Maijala), Extron Engineering Oy (Jari Ketomäki), Terichem Tervakoski Oy (Tuomo Martinmäki), Reka Cables Oy (Jan-Peter Lönnquist), ALSTOM Grid Oy (Yrjö Enqvist, Jari Kotiniitty), Evox Rifa Group Oy (Kimmo Saarinen, Claes Nender) International co-operation: Chalmers University of Technology (Gothenburg, Sweden) Kitami Institute of Technology (Japan) Ludwig Maximilian University (Munich, Germany) South Valley University (Sahara City, Egypt)

3 Research problem the Project was trying to solve: Is it possible to increase the breakdown strength and enhance other electrical properties of the polymers used conventionally in power devices? Target: To achieve better electrically insulating polymer materials for high voltage devices Objectives: To innovate and to process novel polymer nanocompounds for high voltage electrical insulations (e.g. capacitors) To create chemical and physical molecular models and to increase fundamental understanding of the new compounds in order to predict dielectric properties (permittivity, power losses and breakdown voltages) To characterize the composition, the electrical and other properties of the new compounds under various electrical and environmental stresses To strengthen and create new co-operation between the parties of the Project, significant international material manufacturing companies and foreign research institutes

4 Motivation (why this research was and is needed) Research on novel polymer materials is of great significance in power engineering and electronics due to the increasing demands of more cost-effective, efficient and environmentally satisfactory power devices. Development of DC and AC transmission networks and electric vehicles demands more and better devices e.g. capacitors to decrease the size and to increase the life time of the components. Polymeric nanocomposites are foreseen as excellent candidates able to fulfill these requirements. Approach (how did we make it) Formulation and manufacturing of novel polymer nanocomposites (VTT) Material Characterization (JyU and VTT) Electrical characterization and long-term endurance (TUT DEEE, Chalmers, Kitami) Computational solid state physics of polymers (TUT Physics)

5 MAIN RESULTS We succeeded to produce novel polymer nanocomposites with proper dispersion, to develop closed feeding system for nanoparticles and melt mixing of nanoparticles with polypropylene and to optimize cast film extrusion and biaxial stretching parameters for nanocomposites. We succeeded to characterize the new nanocomposites well with various methods (Micro-Raman, X-Ray Tomography, SEM, TEM, AFM, X-Ray Crystallography, optical microscopy). A characterization toolbox for dielectric composites is ready for new challenges. We got the best electrical results with 5 wt-% silica-polypropylene nanocomposite: the AC and DC breakdown strength were increased by 20 % and 50 %, respectively. We succeeded to increase the relative permittivity of new BT (barium titanate) printing ink formulation from 2.2 (bare BOPP-foil) to 3.0 and the permittivity of PP-BT nanocompound from 2.2 to 2.7. The molecular density functional theory (DFT) methods in connection with the Clausius-Mossotti equation gave us dielectric constants for saturated polymers such as polypropylene in good accordance with the experimental values. Permittivity of polypropylene increases when grafting with acrylic acid in agreement with our preliminary experiments. Our computed Raman spetcroscopical features of octamethylpolyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (OM-POSS) agglomerates in polypropylene follow closely the experimental ones. e

6 APPLICATIONS & IMPACT: The achievements give a very promising possibilities to develop and test AC and DC power capacitors with high energy density for electric transmission and distribution networks, in energy storage systems (for wind and solar power plants) and for power devices (e.g. in hybrid and electric vehicles). For example, if we can increase the continuous voltage used in a DC capacitor by 30 %, we will get almost 70 % more power out of the capacitor, which in turn means that we will need only approx. 60 % of the amount of capacitors for some application. Consequently, we can save a lot of space and also various raw materials and, hence, also the energy consumption and waste burden will be lower. Value chain: Manufacturing of new nanoadditives (Sachtleben Pigments Oy, FP-Pigments Oy), producing of novel nanocomposites (Borealis Polymers N.V.), insulating film production (Terichem Tervakoski Oy), manufacturing of production machines (Extron Engineerig Oy), capacitor production (ALSTOM Grid Oy and Evox Rifa Group Oy), cable production (Reka Cables Oy)

7 Novel methods to formulate polymer nanocomposites and tailor their Ass. prof. Kari Kannus (Tampere University of Technology) ABSTRACT: The main targets of the three-year research project NANOCOM was to innovate, create and characterize novel electrically insulating polymer nanocomposites where the electrical, mechanical and thermal properties are highly tailored to achieve more cost-effective, energy-effective and hence environmentally better materials for the electrical and electronics insulation technology. Additionally, one major target was to explain the measured materials properties using molecular modelling and electronic structure calculation methods. The best results were achieved with 5 wt-% silicapolypropylene nanocomposite: the AC and DC breakdown strength were increased by 20 % and 50 %, respectively. This achievement gives a very promising possibilities to develop and test AC and DC power capacitors with high energy density for electric transmission and distribution networks, in energy storage systems (for wind and solar power plants) and for power devices (e.g. in hybrid and electric vehicles). For example, if we can increase the continuous voltage used in a DC capacitor by 30 %, we will get almost 70 % more power out of the capacitor, which in turn means that we will need only approx. 60 % of the amount of capacitors for some application. Consequently, we can save a lot of space and also various raw materials and, hence, also the energy consumption and waste burden will be lower.