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Dielectric properties of natural ester, synthetic ester Midel 7131 and mineral
oil Diala D

Conference Paper · June 2012

DOI: 10.1109/IPMHVC.2012.6518680

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 Dielectric Properties of Natural Ester, Synthetic
Ester MIDEL 7131 and Mineral Oil Diala D
Yi Jing1, Igor V. Timoshkin1, Martin J. Given1, Mark P. Wilson1, Scott J. MacGregor1, Tao Wang1,
and Jane M. Lehr2
1
Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering
University of Strathclyde, 204 George Street, Glasgow, G1 1XW, UK
2
Sandia National Laboratories, PO Box 5800, MS 1193, Albuquerque, NM 87185-1193, USA

ABSTRACT 2 AC BREAKDOWN VOLTAGE TEST

Insulating liquids are widely used in high voltage
2.1 EXPERIMENT TECHNIQUE
industry applications which include the power stations,
high voltage transformers and impulse power generators. AC breakdown voltages were measured in the electrode
Typical insulating liquids used in industry are mineral oils. configuration which satisfies the ASTM D 1816-04 standard
In recent years, a large number of research papers have [1]. The environment is set at the room temperature and
been published which focus on search for suitable liquid atmospheric pressure. Figure1 shows the electrode topology.
dielectrics to replace mineral oils and to achieve better Electrode system made of polished brass is a pair spherically-
dielectric performance. The dielectric performance of capped which designed according to ASTM D 1816-04
insulating liquids is a key factor which has to be standard. The gap between two electrodes is 0.5mm. AC
considered in industrial design. Dielectric properties breakdown voltages were measured using TDS 220 digital
including ac breakdown voltage and mobility of charges oscilloscope and Tektronix P6015A HV probe.
are important parameters which characterize dielectric
properties of liquid insulators. In this paper dielectric
properties of synthetic ester, Midel 7131; mineral oil, Shell
Diala D and basic vegetable (rapeseed) oil have been
investigated. The ac breakdown voltages and the dc pre-
breakdown currents have been obtained and an apparent
mobility of charge carriers in these liquids has been
calculated.
Index terms- Liquid dielectrics, breakdown, conduction.

1 INTRODUCTION
Insulating liquids are used to provide dielectric protection in
power equipment. These liquids also increase equipment’s
cooling capacity. Typical insulating liquids are naphthenic
mineral oils. Stringent environmental protection regulations
are encouraging the use of bio-degradable liquids with low
toxicity, also modern high voltages systems require insulating
liquids which are able to withstand much higher electric fields.
Therefore, new insulating liquids are required for applications
in power and pulsed power industries.
Natural, organic oils and synthetic esters can be considered
as a substitute for traditional naphthenic mineral oils. This
paper focuses on investigation of the dielectric properties of
different insulating liquids. Their dielectrics characteristics,
including breakdown strength and pre-breakdown conductivity
were measured under ac high voltage (ac HV) and dc high
voltage (dc HV) conditions.
Figure 1. Cross section of spherically-capped electrode.
2.2 SETUP OF BREAKDOWN TEST
A Foster breakdown test apparatus has been used to measure
ac breakdown voltage. This apparatus produces a 50 Hz ac
voltage across the test cell filled with liquid. AC voltage was
applied to the electrodes immersed in the sample oil with
1kV/s rate, ac breakdown voltage was measured using
Tektronix 1:1000 probe and Tektronix digital oscilloscope.
There were 70 breakdown tests for each oil sample.
Breakdowns damage the electrode surface. This electrode
erosion affects breakdown voltage and after initial 20~30
breakdowns, the level of surface erosion stabilizes.
Breakdown voltages were calculated using three independent
breakdown tests for each liquid. Electrodes were polished after Figures 5-6 show the average values of breakdown voltages
each three series of tests and the test cell and electrodes were for each liquid calculated using 30 breakdown values shown in
cleaned with alcohol washed with distilled water. Then the test Figures 2-4 and standard deviations for each liquid.
cell was dried in the oven for a few hours to remove remaining
water. Midel 7131
Diala D
2.3 EXPERIMENT RESULTS
Figures 2-4 show ac breakdown voltages for Midel 7131
ester fluid, Diala D mineral oil and rapeseed vegetable oil. Rapeseed oil
These graphs show average breakdown voltages of three
individual tests, error bars show standard deviation values.

Figure 5. Average breakdown voltage for three liquids.

Midel 7131
Rapeseed oil
Diala
D

Figure 6. Standard deviation of average breakdown voltages for three liquids.

Figure 2. Breakdown voltage of Midel 7131fluid.

Midel 7131 (synthetic ester) provides the highest ac
breakdown voltage but it also has the largest standard
deviation. Diala D (mineral oil) provides a higher breakdown
voltage as compared with rapeseed oil. Also, this mineral oil
has the lowest standard deviation of the breakdown voltage
which is an important factor in many industrial applications.
Rapeseed oil (natural ester) has the lowest ac breakdown
voltage. The value of the standard deviation of the ac
breakdown voltage for rapeseed oil is lower than that for
Midel 7131 ester fluid and higher than the standard deviation
for Diala D oil. The potential reason for the higher values of
standard deviations observed for Midel 7131 and the vegetable
fluids is higher moisture content and the presence of
contaminants (fiber) in the vegetable oil.
Figure 3. Breakdown voltage of Diala D oil. Future ac breakdown experiments will be focused on the
analysis of distribution of breakdown voltages and their
comparison with previously published results [2, 3]. These
preliminary tests demonstrate that rapeseed oil has a potential
to be used as an industrial insulating liquid. Further research in
the dielectric properties of this oil is required.

3 DC PRE-BREAKDOWN CURRENT
By measuring the dc pre-breakdown current in insulating
liquid an apparent mobility of charge carriers can be
calculated [4]. This mobility can be used to evaluate the
conductivity of insulating liquids, Fowler-Nordheim (FN)
plots can be used to analyse charge injection and conduction
mechanisms in insulating liquid [5, 6].
Figure 4. Breakdown voltage of rapeseed oil.

3.1 EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES

 I-V curves were measured in the point-plane electrode
topology. The gap between electrodes was 5 mm. The needle
tip curvature radius was ~25 µm. Positive and negative
voltage was applied to the point electrode. The conduction
current in the oil samples was measured using a custom built
current sensing amplifier with a 1 kΩ current viewing resistor.
The voltage output from the amplifier was monitored using
TDS 2024 digital oscilloscope, and the applied voltage was
monitored using TES&TEC HVP-40 HV probe.
3.2 TEST PROTOCOL
The point-plane electrode topology was stressed with dc
voltage, the voltage was increased from 0 to its maximum
value (-30kV) with 1 kV steps. The conduction current values
were recorded for each voltage step.
Three independent current tests were conducted using each
liquid. As in the case of ac breakdown tests, the test cell and
electrodes were cleaned with alcohol, washed with distilled
water and dried in the oven after each set of three
measurements.
3.3 RESULTS: MOBILITY OF CHARGE CARRIERS
Figure 7 shows the square root of the conduction current.
The results show that initially the square root of current
behaves non-linearly, however with an increase in voltage
√ become a linear function. This linear behavior indicates
the space charge saturation regime of conduction. The
constant mobility, µ, can be calculated using √ curve.
The calculation method has been discussed in paper [6]. In the
region where the square root of current has a linear relation
with voltage, the apparent mobility, µ, can be calculated using
the following equations:
y = Bx + A, y = I nA, x = VkV (1)
⁄ relation (tunneling regime). In the low voltage region, the
√ [ ] (2)
⁄
√ (3)
(4)
Figure 7. √ plot of three oils, negative energisation.
The values of relative permittivity of oils are required in
order to calculate the mobility have been taken from paper [5]
and they are: for rapeseed oil; for Diala D
oil; for Midel 7131 liquid. Coefficient B and µ for
each liquid are given in Table 1.
Table 1. Coefficient B and apparent mobility, µ.
Negative
B,
Midel 7131 1.67 0.0025
Diala D 1.50 0.0029
Rapeseed oil 1.44 0.0024
The results show that the apparent motilities of the charge
carriers in Midel 7131 and Diala D liquids are slightly
different as compared with the values given in paper [5]. For
negative energisation the apparent mobility of the charge
carriers in Midel 7131 is slightly higher than previously
reported value (0.00221 ). The apparent mobility of the
charge carriers in Diala D oil is lower than previously
obtained value (0.00344 ). Rapeseed oil has the lowest
value of the apparent mobility compared with Midel 7131 and
Diala D liquids.
3.4 RESULTS: DETERMINATION OF ENERGY
BARRIER HEIGHT
The I-V data can be represented as a Fowler-Nordheim plot
in order to investigate potential charge injection mechanisms.
The FN plot has three regions. In the high voltage region
(space charge saturation regime) the squared voltage is
proportional to the current. In the intermediate region, the
linear negative slope of the curve corresponds to the FN
current and voltage relation shows the resistive character, [5].
In the high voltage region, the spaces charge defines the
conduction current in the electrode gap. The square root of the
current is proportional to the applied voltage. In the low
voltage region, the current shows its ohmic character. In the
intermediate region, the conduction current is controlled by
the tunneling mechanism. In this area, electron emission and
tunneling through the energy barrier at the metal-liquid
interface is occurring. The functional dependency of the
emission current on the applied voltage can be represented as
below:
(5)
In this equation, is the height of the energy barrier, d is the
gap between electrodes, is the barrier thickness, assumed
by the authors to be 5 nm. is permittivity of the insulating
liquid. The linear slope, E, can be determined from the FN
plot. To fit the FN plot, Equation (5) can be used, this equation So far the studies were focused on negative energisation. The
is re-arranged as: critical voltage at which transition from the space charge
saturation region to the tunneling regime region is observed is:
(6) -15kV for Midel 7131; -16kV for Diala D; -23kV for rapeseed
oil.
Under negative voltage stress, Midel 7131 has the lowest
By measuring the slope coefficient, E, the energy barrier can
energy barrier height as compared with other tested liquids.
be calculated, [6].
However in the ac breakdown tests, this oil demonstrated a
high breakdown voltage which may be explained by potential
charge screening effects. Rapeseed oil demonstrates a middle
energy barrier height. These results show that natural ester has
a potential quality to substitute mineral oils in some
applications. Diala D has the highest energy barrier, 0.179 eV
which is 10.5% lower than [6] result (0.20 eV).

Figure 8. FN plot of Midel 7131ester liquid.
Figure 9. FN plot of Diala D oil.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The ac breakdown behavior of Midel 7131, Diala D and
natural vegetable oil has been investigated using the ASTM D
1816-04 standard test geometry.
I-V characteristics using a point plane geometry have also
been determined for Midel 7131, Diala D and natural
vegetable oil under negative dc excitaion. I-V characteristics
were used to determine the apparent mobilities of the charge
carriers in these liquids and the energy barriers associated with
electron tunneling. The apparent mobilities obtained in the
present work of Midel 7131 and Diala D liquids are within 10%
of the values reported in [5]. The energy barrier height
obtained in the present paper for Diala D oil is 10% lower than
the barrier value reported in the literature, [6]. Midel 7131 has
the lowest barrier height as compared with other liquids tested
in the present work.

REFERENCES
[1] ASTM D 1816-04, Standard test method for dielectric breakdown voltage
of insulating oils of petroleum origin using VDE electrodes.
[2] V.-H. Dang; A. Beroual, C. Perrier, "Comparative study of statistical
breakdown in mineral, synthetic and natural ester oils under AC voltage,"
IEEE International Conference on Dielectric Liquid, pp.1-4, 2011.
[3] I. V. Timoshkin, S. J. Macgregor, M. J. Given, M. P. Wilson, "Mixtures of
Midel 7131 and THESO insulating liquids for pulsed power
applications," IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation,
vol.18, no.4, pp.1256-1261, 2011.
[4] T. J. Gallagher; Simple Dielectric Liquids-Mobility, Conduction, and
Breakdown, Oxford University Press, London, 1975.
[5] I.V. Timoshkin, M. J. Given, R.A. Fouracre. S. J. MacGregor, J. M.Lehr,
Figure 10. FN plot of rapeseed oil. "Charge injection energy barriers and charge mobilities in insulating
liquids", IEEE Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric
Phenomena. pp.613-616, 2009.
Table 2. Coefficient E and electron affinity barrier χ. [6] M. Butcher, A. Neuber, M. Cevallos, J. Dickens, H. Krompholz,
"Conduction and breakdown mechanisms in transformer oil," IEEE
FN slope, E Barrier height χ, Transactions on Plasma Science, vol.34, no.2, pp. 467-475, 2006.
(kV) (eV)
Midel 7131 -35.21  0.15
Diala D -29.51  0.18
Rapeseed oil -33.22  0.18

Figures 8-10 shows the FN plots for Midel 7131 ester fluid,
Diala D oil and rapeseed oil. In these figures, solid points
show experiment data.

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