1456 C. Zhang et al.

: Interplay Between Nanoparticles and Water on Dielectric Properties of Nanofluids

Interplay Between Nanoparticles and Water on Dielectric

Properties of Nanofluids
Chenran Zhang, Yu Wang, Zhongming Yan and Zhengyou He
Southwest Jiaotong University
School of Electrical Engineering
Chengdu, 610031, China

ABSTRACT
This paper deals with the interaction of nanoparticles (NPs) in transformer oil and
water in the oil and its effect on the electrical properties of the nanofluid (NF). The
breakdown strength and dielectric spectrum measurements under AC for various
concentrations of natural SiO2 and water in mineral oil were studied. Mineral oil-based
SiO2 NFs exhibit significantly higher breakdown voltage than that of base oil under
high water content. However, there is an optimal range of NP concentration and water
content for maximum breakdown voltage. The results of dielectric spectrum indicate
that the dielectric constants of NFs and base oil are greatly affected by water content.
The real relative permittivity of oil samples increases exponentially with water content
at decreasing frequency (f≤10 Hz). The imaginary relative permittivity of NFs is less
than that of the base oil in all cases. Based the experimental results reported, a model
on the interplay between NPs and water in transformer oil is presented. The model can
broadly explain the influence of the coexistence of NPs and water on the dielectric
properties of transformer oil.
Index Terms — water content, nanofluid, breakdown voltage, nanoparticle
concentration, dielectric spectrum, dielectric loss

1 INTRODUCTION
TO meet the demand for transformers with small volume
and high voltage rate in electrical systems, the development of
transformer oil with high dielectric strength and thermal
characteristics is extremely important [1]. The dual functions
of transformer oil for high voltage insulation and power
apparatus cooling have led to extensive research work to
improve the dielectric and thermal properties. A particularly
innovative example of such work is the development of
dielectric nanofluids (NFs). Transformer-oil-based NFs are
prepared by adding nanoparticle (NP) suspensions to
transformer oil to enhance some of the oil’s insulating and
thermal characteristics.
In 1998, Segal et al studied the properties of magnetite
Fe3O4 NF based on transformer oil. They found that the AC
impulse breakdown strength of magnetite NF increased
significantly above that of the base oil [2]. However, the
distribution and stability of magnetite NPs in NFs are affected
by the magnetic field within a transformer [3]. With the goal
to enhance the dielectric properties of liquid insulation,
subsequent experimental work on NFs was carried out by
suspending different NPs and multi-NPs [4]. These NPs are
categorized into following classification; namely, conductive
Manuscript received on 15 January 2019, in final form 1 April 2019,
accepted 4 April 2019. Corresponding author: C. Zhang.
NPs (Fe3O4 [5], ZnO [6], SiC [7], and graphene oxide [8]),
semiconductive NPs (TiO2 [9], CuO [6], AlN [10], CCTO
[11]), and insulative NPs (SiO2 [8, 12-13], Al2O3 [5, 14]). It
has been demonstrated that these NFs have much greater
dielectric breakdown strengths than that of base oil. In these
studies, the water content in NFs remain constant or not even
considered. Humidity, or the dissolved water in insulating oils,
affects the conduction and breakdown phenomena.
To date, some researchers have noticed the indispensability
of water in NFs and have done some works. The study by
Segal et al indicated that AC breakdown strength and the
positive pulse breakdown voltage of magnetic NFs were
significantly improved than that of the base oil at low level
water content [3]. It is thought that magnetite NPs in NFs are
capable of binding part of the water dissolved in the oil. Jin et
al found that the AC breakdown voltage of mineral oil was
enhanced with high water content. They give a corresponding
explanation based on the hydrophilicity of NPs [12]. Atiya et
al found that the influence of different moisture content on
breakdown strength of NFs was alleviated due to the effect
moisture on the electrostatic stability in the electrical double
layer [15]. Lv et al reviewed the studies on the relationship of
moisture content and dielectric strength based on NP-doped
transformer oil [9]. Several possible mechanisms were been
proposed to explain the enhanced impulse breakdown strength
of NFs [16]. These possible mechanisms are well explained in

DOI: 10.1109/TDEI.2019.008056
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
their respective experimental results, but more general
mechanisms need to be explored to understand the influence
of the coexistence of NPs and water on the electric properties
of transformer oil.
The focus of this study is the influence of the interplay
between NPs and water on the dielectric properties of
transformer oils. In this paper, mineral oil-based SiO2 NFs
with different NP concentrations (10-50 mg/L) and water
content (0.01-0.04 mL/L) were studied. The AC breakdown
strengths of the samples were measured to evaluate the
influence of the NP concentration and the water content on the
dielectric properties of NFs. Since dielectric spectroscopy can
reflect the polarization mechanism of dielectric micro-systems
such as dipole, atom, molecule and electron under external
field, it was also used in this study. The dielectric spectrum of
NFs and base oil help analyze the effect of interaction between
NPs and water on transformer oil. Based the results of
experimental and reported, a new model is proposed that can
broadly explain the effects of the coexistence of NPs and
water on the dielectric properties of transformer oil.
2 METHOD
Karamay 25# mineral oil is adopted as the base liquid
which is often used for high voltage power transformers and
of good insulating performance [17]. This type of mineral oil
is widely used in high voltage (HV) transformers and HV DC
converter stations. The silica NPs used for the experiments are
provided by Evonik. The relative permittivity and electrical
conductivity of the silica particles are 3.8Ɛ0 F/m and 1×10-15
S/m respectively, where Ɛ0 (8.85×10-12 F/m) is the vacuum
permittivity. The main physical properties of the base mineral
oil and SiO2 NPs are summarized in Table 1. The morphology
of the SiO2 NP is measured using a scanning electron
microscope (SEM, Hitachi S-4800). The average diameter is
less than 20 nm in, as shown in Figure 1. The surfaces of the
received silica NPs are left untreated.
Table1. Main properties of the base mineral oil and SiO2 NPs.
Ɛr [F/m] σ [S/m]
Oil 2.2 10-12
-15
Nanoparticle SiO2 [13] 3.8 10
Ɛr, σ and ρ are the relative dielectric constant, conductivity and density of the
material, respectively.
Figure 1. SEM image of the SiO2 NP.
Vol. 26, No. 5; October 2019 1457
2.1 PREPARATION OF NF
The samples of transformer-oil-based NFs were prepared by
dispersing the SiO2 NPs in the transformer oil ultrasonically.
The NPs concentration in NFs was between 10 to 50 mg/L,
and the soluble water content in samples varied from 0.01 to
0.04 mL/L. Due to the high ambient humidity level in the
laboratory during the test (a relative humidity of 35 to 65%), it
was not possible to decrease the moisture content of the
samples to a level of less than 0.01 mL/L. To avoid the
influence of microbubbles, which could have been created
during the ultrasonic processing, all the samples were
degassed in a vacuum oven at 25 ℃ for 24 hours. No
additional treatment was applied. The NFs were stable for 1
months when the NPs content was less than 40 mg/L, the
result concurs with previous work. However, obvious
agglomerations were observed after about 24 hours in all of
the NF samples whenever the NP concentration exceeded 50
mg/L (The breakdown voltage of NFs with the NPs
concentration 50 mg/L was not tested). The preparation
procedure of the SiO2 NF is shown in Figure 2. All samples
were placed in the constant temperature and humidity
container to reach a stable state for testing. In this paper, the
water content in all the samples was measured using a JF-5
Rishang Coulometric Karl Fischer moisture meter (made by
Daqing Rishang Instrument Manufacturing Co., Ltd., in
China).
Mineral oil
Mechanical stirring Sonication
SiO2
20 min 2hr
Drying
nanoparticle
Nanofluid
Constant temperature and
humidity environment
Degassing process
24 hr
Figure 2. Flowchart of a preparation produces for mineral oil-based SiO2 NF.
ρ [g/cm3] 2.2 AC BREAKDOWN STRENGTH TEST
0.89
The breakdown strengths of the samples were measured
under AC using a JKJQ-3BaoDing automatic 50 Hz electrical
/
breakdown tester, conforming to international standard issued
by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The
AC breakdown cell consists of two identical spherical capped
brass electrodes having a diameter 36 mm. The gap of brass-
sphere-capped electrodes was 2.5 mm. The rate of voltage rise
was 3 kV/s. The initial standing time of 10 minutes was fixed
before the application of voltage and the interval between
breakdowns was 1 minute. The tester obtains the average
value for the six individual tests which were carried out along
with the standard deviation for the tests. To reduce dispersion
in the AC breakdown voltages, an additional 5 series of 6
breakdown tests are carried out to obtain a total of 30
breakdowns. The water content in the NFs and base oil is
tested before and after each voltage breakdown test, as shown
in Table 2. The tests were done at room temperature.
1458 C. Zhang et al.: Interplay Between Nanoparticles and Water on Dielectric Properties of Nanofluids
Table 2. Water content in SiO2 NFs and base oil before and after the AC to maximize the breakdown voltage of the NFs. The optimum
breakdown voltage test.
breakdown strengths of NFs with the low water content (≤
Before 0.02 mL/L) and the high water content (>0.03 mL/L) vary
After test
test
Test with NPs concentration, as shown in Figures 3a and 3b. We
- 1 2 3 4 5 believe that the breakdown properties are affected by the
number
10.9 10.8 11.1 11.3 10.9 10.8 interaction between water and NPs in transformer oil under
Water 17.1 18.9 17.2 17.4 16.9 17.4 external field and a detailed discussion on the interaction is
content 29.8 30.1 30.1 29.6 30.2 30.4 given in Section 4.
(mL/L) 39.9 39.8 40.2 40.5 40.1 39.7
50.1 50.4 50.7 50.4 50.3 50.5 100 0 mg/L
10 mg /L
90 20 mg/L
a 30 mg/L

AC Breakdown Voltage (KV)

2.3 DIELECTRIC SPECTRA 80 40 mg/L
A Concept 80 Broadband Dielectric Spectrometer was used 70
to measure the dielectric properties of the NFs and base oil. b
60
The frequency ranges of this test equipment is from 3×10-6 Hz 50
to 3 GHz and the test temperature is from 113 to 723 K. The
40
resolution can reach 10-5, and the WinDE-TA software can be
configured to compare and analyze different dielectric 30

spectrum curves. In this paper, the test frequency range is 20

between 10-1 Hz and 105 Hz and the temperature from 260 to 10
363 K. 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Water Content (×10-3 mL/L)
3 RESULTS Figure 3. Breakdown voltages of the NFs and the base oil as a function of
3.1 AC BREAKDOWN VOLTAGE water content. The insets are the NP concentrations.

The breakdown strength is one of the dominant factors in

high-voltage transformer. In this paper, the AC breakdown
strengths of base oil and four groups of NFs were tested. The
water content ranged from 0.01 to 0.04 mL/L and the NP
concentration in each group of samples was 10 to 40 mg/L.
Then, they are compared with the base oil breakdown voltage
with the same water content.
Figure 3 shows that the breakdown voltages of SiO2 NFs
with different NPs concentrations and base oil as a function of
the water content. The red line in Figure 3 represents the
breakdown voltage base oil. Each symbol plotted in Figure 3
represents the mean values of breakdown voltages for a
particular water content and NP concentration. Due to
limitations of the accuracy in the measuring instrument,
samples with zero water content could not be obtained.
However, it does not affect the analysis of the variation. From
Figure 3, it can be clearly seen that the breakdown voltages of
SiO2 NFs and base oil decrease rapidly with increasing water
content. Water acts as a key factor influencing the breakdown
voltage of oil. Due to the introduction of SiO2 NPs, the
breakdown voltages of NFs are higher than that of pure oil
under different water contents. The decreasing trend of
breakdown voltage of SiO2 NFs is also lower than that of pure
oil. It is well known that electrical breakdown in transformer
oil is closely related to the electron transport process [18]. The
introduction of SiO2 NPs can inhibit the dissolved water in oil,
preventing the formation of conductive bridges in oil. In
addition, the breakdown voltages of SiO2 NFs are closely
related to the NPs concentration with the same water content,
and the lowest breakdown voltage value of NFs is higher than
that of base oil. This indicates that there is an optimal
matching range between NPs concentration and water content
3.2 RESULTS OF DIELECTRIC SPECTRUM
Insight into how incorporating NPs concentration and water
content in the mineral oil affects the dielectric properties may
be obtained by examining the variation of Ɛ’ and Ɛ” (the real
and imaginary components of the relative permittivity) as a
function of the frequency. The reproducibility of the data is
confirmed by measuring each sample several times.
Figures 4a and 4b show the real relative permittivity Bode
plots for the base oil and NFs. The test frequency ranges from
10-1 to 105 Hz. The inset is the SiO2 NPs concentration. Figure
4a corresponds to a water content of 0.015 mL/L, and Figure
4b is for 0.03 mL/L. At low test frequency (f≤10 Hz), from the
results of dielectric spectrum, it can be clearly seen that the
real part of dielectric constants of the base oil and SiO2 NFs
greatly increase with the decreasing frequency. It is interesting
to notice that Ɛ’ of SiO2 NFs is different from that of pure oil
with different water content, indicating the smaller value and
less reduction. The water molecules are easily polarizable and
have higher permittivity than transformer oil molecules [19].
Therefore, this response characterizes is mainly attributed to
the water in oil. This phonomenon becomes more intense at
low frequencies where the melecules have enough time to
orientate their polarization vectors under external applied field.
The smaller values of NFs are mainly attributed to the
introduction of SiO2 NPs, which form dipole moments to
restrict the response of water to the external applied field. As
the frequency increases, the water response characterized by
the electric dipole moment orientation polarization gradually
decreases. The dielectric response of transformer oil tends to
follow the self-dielectric behavior of the base oil and SiO2
NPs. The relative dielectric constant of SiO2 NPs (3.8) is
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 26, No. 5; October 2019 1459

larger than that of mineral oil (2.2). Therefore, the dielectric
constant of the NFs and base oil essentially remain unchanged,
and the real relative permittivity of the NFs is larger than that
of base oil under the high frequency (10-105 Hz), as shown in
the Figure 4. From [20], it is necessary to discuss the different
structures of water in transformer with growing water content.
form dipole moments to restrict the response of water to the
external field. In addition, compared with the base oil, a new
kind of dielectric relaxation of NFs occurs at high frequency
(103-105 Hz) with low water content (0.015 mL/L) as shown in
Figure 5a. This phenomenon is caused by interfacial
polarization and appears due to the introduction of SiO2 NPs
under high frequency. Previous study on dielectric properties
of NF has also found the same polarization peak [17]. They
obtained two polarization peaks in the experiment and gave
corresponding explanations using the H-N model. Compared
with Figure 5a, the new kind of dielectric relaxation of NFs
does not appear with increasing frequency under higher water
content (0.03 mL/L) as shown in Figure 5b. The water
limitation of NPs will be saturated with increasing water
content, which reduces the interfacial polarization of NPs
under high frequency. As a result, the polarization peaks
disappear in Figure 5b.

0 g/L
100 0.01 g/L
0.02 g/L
(a) 0.03 g/L
0.04 g/L
10-1

10-2

10-3

10-4
10-1 100 101 102 103 104 105
Frequency /Hz
(a)

(b)
Figure 4. The real relative permittivity of the base oil and the NFs for water
content of (a) 0.015 mL/L (b) 0.03 mL/L; the insets are the NP concentration.

Figures 5a and 5b show the imaginary relative permittivity

of the base oil and the SiO2 NFs. The insets are SiO2 NPs
concentration. The water content is same, 0.015 mL/L for all
samples in Figure 5a, and 0.03mL/L for all samples in Figure
5b. The test frequency is from 10-1 Hz to 105 Hz. Figures 5
show that Ɛ” of the base oil and SiO2 NFs decreases rapidly
with the increasing frequency. Ɛ” of the base oil decreases
monotonically with increasing frequency. Meanwhile, Ɛ” of
the SiO2 NFs is less than that of base oil with the frequency (b)
from 10-1 Hz to 103 Hz. From [20], it is found that water in oil Figure 5. The imaginary relative permittivity of the base oil and the NFs for
is present as monomer in concentration range 0 to 10 µg/g, water content of (a) 0.015 mL/L and (b) 0.03 mL/L; the insets are the NP
concentration.
and dimers, polymers (in this paper it is called clusters) are
formed above this concentration. Because the relative
permittivity of water (79) is far larger than that of oil (2.2) and
4 DISCUSSION
SiO2 NPs (3.9) at room temperature. The different forms of Several researchers have noticed the relationship between
water are easier to respond to the externally applied filed. The the water content and NPs concentration in transformer oil.
smaller Ɛ” of NFs is mainly attributed to SiO2 NFs which The study by Miner shows that particles above the micron
1460 C. Zhang et al.: Interplay Between Nanoparticles and Water on Dielectric Properties of Nanofluids

level, such as metals and cellulose, exacerbate the

deterioration of water on its dielectric properties [21]. Jin et al r
pointed out that silica NPs can effectively relieve the damage
of water on dielectric strength under low water content [12].
The electrical double layer model was used to explain in
subsequent studies for the interaction of NPs and water in oil,
such as [17, 22]. According to what is known in solid state (a) Single water molecule (b)Pair of water molecules (c) Water cluster

physics and colloid chemistry, the particles (including micron-

Figure 6. Schematic illustrations of water forms in transformer oil with
particles and NPs) in liquids will form a double electrical layer various water contents: (a) and (b) at low water content, (a), (b), and (c) at
on the surface. Therefore, the double electrical layer model high water content.
has certain limitations, namely, it was not suitable for
explaining all the reported results in the literature.
Additionally, the traditional double-layer model deals only
with molecular-scale ions. It is difficult to classify the double-

AC breakdown voltage (kV)

layer model as having a purely ion contribution. Therefore, the
interaction mechanism between NPs and water in oil needs to
be further explored.
According to our results, we consider that NPs have two
roles; namely, the interaction between NPs (NP-NP) and NP
with other impurities (NP-water). In this paper, impurities
mainly refer to water. Meanwhile, there is competition
Nanoparticle concentration (%)
between these two roles that determine the electric properties
of transformer oil with different NPs concentration and water (a)
content under external applied field. In general, NP-water
interactions can improve the dielectric strength of transformer,
that is, the NPs can relieve the damage of water on dielectric
strength; whereas NP-NP interactions will reduce the
AC breakdown voltage (kV)

dielectric strength of transformer oil with increasing NPs

concentration, that is, the direct interaction of NPs will lead to
long-range correlation between them. The interaction NP-NP
can form favorable conductive path ways for charges
transmission, which in turn reduces the sample's breakdown
strength. From [9], multimolecular water clusters reduce the
breakdown strength of oil more than single water molecules.
The generation of water is inevitable and water is one of the
most common impurities in transformer oil. Furthermore,
various water combination forms will occur in oil with
increasing water content. Hence, it is necessary to discuss the Nanoparticle concentration (g/L)

forms of water, namely, the complexity of the water (b)

(individual molecules, pairs of molecules, and cluster) with
different water content when considering the influence of
water on the breakdown strength of transformer oil as shown
in Figure 6. At low water content, the presenting forms of
water are small units, such as individual molecule and dimers
[20], as shown in Figure 6a and 6b; in addition to the above
two forms, water mainly exists in form of clusters at high
water content, as shown in Figure 6c. For the different forms
of water, NPs in oil resemble the defects found in solid
materials. These “defectives” are characterized through the
trapping of water (dipole moment) and other charged ions to
form a large-scale double layer under external field.
Specific models are given to discuss the effect of the
interaction between NPs and water on the dielectric properties
of transformers at different moisture content.
Figure 8a is the diagram of the effect of NPs on water with
different NPs concentration at low water content, we assume
Figure 7. a) AC breakdown strength of pure oil and corresponding Fe3O4 NFs
with different concentrations [24]; b), AC breakdown strength of pure oil and
corresponding TiO2 NFs with different concentrations [9].
SiO2 NFs are arranged in regular arrangement. Where D is the
radius of SiO2 NP, D1 is the scope radius of SiO2 NP under
external field. In this situation, all of these small water units
are immobilized by NPs due to the interaction of NPs-water,
some NPs do not even have these small units on their surface
with increasing NPs concentration. The destructive effect of
water on dielectric strength of transformer oil can be
effectively alleviated due to the introduction of SiO2 NPs, as
shown in Figure 3. It is consistent with the results reported by
Du [23]. Meanwhile, the interaction of NP-NP is enhanced
because the long-range correlation between NPs increases
with growing NPs concentration. It will form favorable
conductive path ways for charges transmission, which in turn
reduces the sample's breakdown strength. As mentioned above,
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
Nanoparticle Nanoparticle
Oil
D D1
Low NPs concentration a High NPs concentration
Nanoparticle Nanoparticle
Oil
r r
D D1
r
b electric double layer model, it is generally believed that the
Figure 8. Illustration of the effect of NPs on water with different NPs
concentration; a) at low water content, b) at high water content.
NP-NP interactions will reduce the dielectric strength of
transformer oil, this phenomenon has been observed in the
literature reported, as shown in Figure 7.
Water in transformer oil exists in the form of small units and
water clusters with high water content, mainly the latter. The
different forms of water in oil are easily polarizable and have
higher permittivity than transformer oil molecules. Those
polarized waters can combine with other impurities, become
aligned head to tail to form bridge across the gap and initiate
pre-breakdown of oil gap under external field [19]. The
breakdown voltage of base oil and NFs decrease rapidly with
growing water content, as shown in Figure 3. Meanwhile, it is
interesting to notice that the NFs lowest value of breakdown
voltage is higher than that of base oil at high water content
(≥0.03 mL/L). The water clusters in transformer oil are captured
by NPs until the amount of fixed water on the surface of NPs
reaches saturation, which prevents water from participating in
the formation of bridges for charges to pass. Increasing water
content requires more “defects” (NPs) to capture it, which
reduces the direct interaction of NPs. Therefore, compared with
low water content (NPs concentration 30 mg/L), the maximum
breakdown voltage of NFs appears at NPs concentration 40
mg/L, as shown in Figure 3a and 3b. Figure 8b shows that the
interaction between NPs and water with different NPs
concentration at high water content. There is a proper matching
range between water content and NP concentration to optimize
the dielectric strength of transformer oil. Under different water
content, the two interactions, NP-NP and NP-water, compete
with each other, which together determine the dielectric
properties of transformer oil.
From [25], under the external field applied, an electric
dipole moment is formed by the separation of positive and
negative charges on the surface of spherical NPs. Due to the
interaction of NP-water, the dielectric response of different
forms of water in oil is limited, resulting in a smaller value of
dielectric constant of NFs and a slower rate of reduction than
the base oil under low frequency (≤10 Hz), as shown in Figure
4. The dielectric constants of NFs and base oil remain
Vol. 26, No. 5; October 2019 1461
unchanged under high frequency (10-105 Hz) due to the
weakening of the polarization effect of water. The dielectric
Oil response of transformer oil tends to follow the self-dielectric
behavior of the base oil and SiO2 NPs. All the NF samples
have a higher real part dielectric constant at high frequencies
than that of base oil because the SiO2 NPs have a larger
dielectric constant.
NF is a complex system in which coexistence of water,
NPs, and various ions or clusters. The polarity particles, such
as water, are different in dielectric response before and after
Oil
being captured by NPs in the oil. The dielectric responses of
polar particles are limited in the structure of the NPs as the
center, resulting in a low the imaginary relative permittivity of
the NFs than the base oil, as shown in Figure 5a and 5b. In the
relaxation phenomenon in NF is dominated by two
mechanisms: the polarization of counterion in the layer at the
low-frequency and high-frequency interfacial polarization. As
mentioned above in section 3, the polarization peak occurs due
to interfacial polarization of NPs with low water content under
high frequency (103-105 Hz), and the peak is closely related to
the NPs concentration, as shown in Figure 5a. Water exists in
the forms of small units that are fixed by NPs. NP-NP effect is
enhanced with increasing NPs concentration. Compared with
low water content, the peak does not appear with high water
content at the same frequency, as shown in Figure 5b. Water
mainly exists in form of clusters at high water content. Water
clusters are captured by NPs and formed a large-scale double
electrical layer due to electrostatic interaction. The interaction
NP-NP can be ignored with growing water content (double
electric layer shielding).
5 CONCLUSION
In this study, the effect of the interaction of NPs and water
in transformer oil on electrical properties was evaluated.
Compared with pure oil, the breakdown voltages of SiO2 NFs
increase with water content. There is a proper matching range
between water content and NPs concentration to optimize the
dielectric strength of transformer oil. NPs in transformer oil
trap water and inhibit the response of different forms of water
to an external field. The real relative permittivity of NFs is
smaller than that of pure oil with different water content at low
frequency (f≤10 Hz). The imaginary relative permittivity of
SiO2 NFs is less than that of base oil with different water
content under the test frequency.
Based the experimental results and studies reported, the
model about the two interactions NP-NP and NP-water in NFs
under different water content is proposed. The model can
broadly explain the influence of the coexistence of NPs and
water on the dielectric properties of transformer oil. we will
test the effects of the interaction of more kinds of NPs and
water on the electrical properties of transformer oil, and verify
this model with theoretical calculations in our future work.
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oxide and silicone oxide nanoparticles on dielectric withstand
characteristics of mineral oil,” IEEE Trans. on Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Yu Wang was born in Henan, China, in 1960. He
vol. 22, pp. 2592–2600, 2015. received the Ph.D. degree in physical electronics from
[9] Y. Lv, Y. Zhou, C. Li, Q. Wang, and B. Qi, “Recent progress in the Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
nanofluids based on transformer oil: preparation and electrical insulation Wuhan, China, in 2001. He is currently a Professor
properties,” IEEE Electr. Insul. Mag., vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 23–32, 2014. with the School of Electrical Engineering and the Key
[10] D. Liu, Y. Zhou, Y. Yang, and L. Zhang, “Characterization of high Laboratory of Magnetic Suspension Technology and
performance AIN nanoparticle-based transformer oil nanofluids,” IEEE Maglev Vehicle, Southwest Jiaotong University,
Trans. Dielectr. and Electr. Insul., vol. 23, no.2, pp.2757–2767, Oct. Chengdu, China. His current research interests
2016. include material technology.
[11] R. T. A. R. Prasath, N. K. Roy, S. N. Mahato and P. Thomas, “Mineral
oil based high permittivity CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) nanofluids for power
transformer application,” IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., vol. 24,
pp. 2344–2353, 2017.
[12] H. Jin, T. Andritsch, I.A. Tsekmes, R. Kochetov, H. Peter, F. Morshuis, Zhongming Yan was born in Zhejiang, China, in
J. J. Smit, “Properties of mineral oil based silica Nanofluids,” IEEE 1982. He received the M.E. degree in electrical
Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 1100–1108, 2014. engineering from Southwest Jiaotong University,
[13] R. Moldavan, S. Balaraman, “Investigation on effects of different types Chengdu, China, in 2007, where he is currently
of nanoparticles on critical parameters of nano-liquid insulation pursuing the Ph.D. degree in theory of electrical
systems,” J. Mol. Liq., vol. 230, pp. 437–444, 2017. engineering and new technology with the School of
[14] D. E. A. Mansour, A. M. Elsaeed, and M. A. Izzularab, “The role of Electrical Engineering. His current research interests
interfacial zone in dielectric properties of transformer oil-based include superconducting electromotor and numerical
nanofluids,” IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., pp. 3364–3372, 2016. analysis of electromagnetic fields.
[15] E. G. Atiya, D. A. Mansour, R. M. Khattab and A. M. Azmy,
“Dispersion Behavior and Breakdown Strength of Transformer Oil
Filled with TiO2 NPs,” IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., vol. 22, no.
5, pp. 2463–2472, 2015.
Zhengyou He (M’10) was born in Sichuan, China, in
[16] F. M. O Sullivan, “A Model for the Initiation ans Propagation of
1970. He received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from
Electrical Streamers in Transformer oil and Transformer based
Chongqing University, Chongqing, China, in 1992
Nanofluids,” Ph.D. degree thesis, Massachussets Institute of
and 1995, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from
Technology, U.S.A, 2007.
Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China, in
[17] M. Dong, J. Dai, Y. Li, “Insight into the dielectric response of
2001. He has been a Professor with the Department of
transformer oil-based NFs,” AIP Advances J., vol. 2, pp. 25307, 2017.
Electrical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong
[18] Y. F. Du et al, “Effect of semiconductive nanoparticles on insulating
University. He is the author or co-author of more than
performances of transformer oil,” IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and
100 journal papers and the owner of two invention
Electrical Insulation, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 770–776, 2012.
patents. His current research interests include the area
[19] Y. Zhou, S. Y. Sui; J. Li, “Statistical analysis of moisture’s effect on AC
of signal processing and information theory and their applications in electrical
breakdown strength of TiO2 nanofluids. J. Mol. Liq., vol. 249, pp. 420–
power systems, and application of wavelet transforms in power systems.
428, 2018.
[20] O. Koreh, K. Torkos, M. BashirMahara, J. Boressay, V. Izvekov, “Study
of water clusters in insulating oils by Fourier transform infrared
spectroscopy,” IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., vol. 5, no. 6, pp.
896–902, 1998.
[21] K. Miners, “Particles and Moisture Effect on Dielectric Strength of
Transformer Oil Using VDE Electrodes,” IEEE Trans. Power App. Sys.
vol. 101, pp. 751–756, 1982.
[22] Y. F. Du, Y. Z. Lv, C. R. Li, Y. X. Zhong, T. M. Chen, S. N. Zhang, Y.
Zhou, and Z. Q. Chen, “Effect of water adsorption at nanoparticle-oil
interface on charge transport in high humidity transformer-oil based
nanofluid,” Colloid Surf. A, vol. 415, pp. 153–158, 2012.