R. Vogelsang, R. Brütsch, K.
Fröhlich: „How imperfections in mica tape barriers influence tree growth and breakdown time“
How imperfections in mica tape barriers influence tree growth and breakdown time
R. Vogelsang1 (Student member IEEE), R. Brütsch2 and K. Fröhlich1 (Fellow IEEE)
1
High Voltage Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich, Switzerland
2
Von Roll Isola AG Breitenbach, Switzerland
Abstract:
The propagation of electrical trees in bent sections of
mica tapes is described. The investigations have been
made because tapes in coil insulations of high voltage
rotating machines cannot always be wound in a
perfectly even manner. The tapes are bent at the coil
edges, at places where tapes overlap or due to the
taping- and manufacturing process. Possible tape bends
were therefore analysed by taking micrographs of
industrially made model bars. To investigate the
influence on time to breakdown, treeing experiments in
needle-plane specimens with barriers of bent and unbent
mica tapes were made. The results show that the tree
can penetrate the tape below a certain bending radius,
which depends on the tape material. Tree growth
through a bent tape can lead to a significantly shorter
time to breakdown. The results can be used for
manufacturers to specify the minimum allowable tape
bending and therefore assure a higher quality of the
mica insulation. The results provide also a basis for
development of tape materials with a lower sensitivity
to damage at regions of tape bending.
Introduction
Electrical treeing was found to be the most important
electrical degradation mechanism in the insulation of
high voltage rotating machines [1]. Electrical treeing is
a process in which fine erosion channels propagate
through the insulation [2–4]. Once incepted, the tree
propagates intermittently in small branches through the
material until it has bridged both electrodes [2-3].
Thereafter the tree branches are enlarged until its diame-
ter is big enough to cause final breakdown [3].
In high voltage machine insulations time to break-
down is extended by the use of barriers. Due to its tree
resistance, the barriers are made of mica [3, 5-7]. The
mica is processed to mica tapes and the tapes are
wrapped around the coil. The spaces between the tapes
are filled with epoxy resin. When growing through the
insulation, the tree must propagate around these barri-
ers. This extends tree propagation path and thus the total
time to breakdown [1, 8]. In investigations at needle-
plane-arrangements it was found that tree growth along
barriers depends mainly on material specifications and
its manufacturing process [5-7]. In all investigations the
barriers were even and had no damages. In opposite to
2003 Annual Report, Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena, CEIDP, Albuquerque, USA
the model experiments, the barriers in industrial coil
insulations can not be applied in a perfectly even
manner. The tape is bent at coil edges, places where
tapes overlap, conductor bends at end windings or due
to the taping- and manufacturing process. The tape can
thus be destroyed and it may be penetrated by the tree.
To the authors it seemed therefore interesting to
investigate tree growth at bent or damaged barriers.
The tape structures of industrial made model bars
were analysed and the bendings of the tapes were
monitored. The resistance to tree growth of indentical
mica tapes showing defined damages were investigated.
The aim of the investigations was to provide a
qualitative specification for a minimum bending radius
for which the tree cannot penetrate the tape.
Experimental setup
The tests have been carried out with a needle-plane ar-
rangement incorporating mica barriers with a defined
bending. The samples were 40 mm by 40 mm by 40 mm
in size. The distance between the needle and the plane
was 5 mm. The barriers were industrially made mica
tapes of 40 x 20 mm size with a thickness of 0.2 mm.
The different bending radii of the tapes were made in a
special mould. The minimum bending radius was
0.5 mm. The barriers were placed centrally between the
electrodes and perpendicular to the axis of the system
(Figure 1).
needle (28 kV)
mica tape
barrier
2.5 mm 2.5 mm
bending radius r
plane (ground)
Figure 1: Sample with bent barriers for the treeing experiments.
The samples were moulded in an epoxy resin of type
Araldite D (relative permittivity of 4.0). They were pre-
pared in a vacuum process. For easy detection of the
trees a fully transparent formulation was chosen. To ini-
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 R. Vogelsang, R. Brütsch, K. Fröhlich: „How imperfections in mica tape barriers influence tree growth and breakdown time“
tiate treeing at the beginning of the voltage application,
needles with a tip radius of 1 µm were used. The electri-
cal arrangement is a conventional test circuit consisting
of a 50 Hz high voltage transformer and a 1:1000 ca-
pacitive voltage divider. The treeing experiments were
carried out with a constant ac voltage of 28 kV rms.
High voltage was applied to the needle. The plane sur-
face of the sample opposite the needle tip was coated by
conducting silver paint and grounded. The electrical
treeing was observed with a CCD-camera via telephoto
lenses. The number of samples in each test was n = 8.
The mica tape structure in the model bars were
analysed by taking micrographs of the insulation. The
insulation was therefore cut and polished in a very fine
manner. The internal insulation structure and the tree
propagation path were then observed in a light micro-
scope. Altogether 30 industrial made model bars with
3 typical mica tapes were analysed. The total area of
analysed insulation was approx. 500’000 mm2.
Results
Imperfections in mica tape barriers as detected in
industrially made coil insulations
In industrially made coil insulations, 3 different types of
tape bends were detected. These are:
a) tape bends at the conductor edges,
b) tape kinks at the edges of resin rich material and
c) tape wrinkles in the insulation.
Type a:
When the mica tape is wrapped around the coil, the tape
is bent at the coil edges (Figure 2). The minimum bend-
ing radius is dependent on the radius of the coil. The
bending radius of the tape increases with the number of
tape layers from ri to ra (Figure 2). The radii r of tape
bendings for typical winding insulations are between
0.5 mm < r < 6 mm.
1 mm
ra
ri
Figure 2: Different radii of tape bendings at a coil edge.
2003 Annual Report, Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena, CEIDP, Albuquerque, USA
Type b:
This type of damage occurs mostly at coils that are
manufactured using the resin rich technology. The char-
acteristic of the resin rich process is that the insulation is
pressed under high temperature and high pressure after
wrapping. This is done to remove air out of the insula-
tion and to fill voids between the wrapped tapes with
binder resin. Due to the pressing process the tapes can
be kinked at the conductor edges (Figure 3). For typical
industrial made coil insulations the radius r of the tape
kinks was detected to be between 0.2 mm < r < 1 mm.
tape kinks
1 mm
Figure 3: Tape kinks at the edge of a resin rich winding insulation.
Type c:
The mica tape was also found to have wrinkles within
the insulation (Figure 4). The origin of these wrinkles is
supposed to happen when the tapes are wrapped around
the coil. For easier description the wrinkles are consid-
ered to be a number of connected bendings and the radii
of the different bendings are taken separately. In the de-
tected winding insulations the radii r of the tape wrin-
kles were found to be between 0.2 mm < r < 5 mm.
1 mm
Figure 4: Tape wrinkles in a winding insulation.
Tree growth at undamaged mica tape barriers
After inception the tree grows in the needle-plane ar-
rangement in direction to the barrier. If the tree cannot
penetrate the barrier, it propagates on its surface until it
finds a way around the barrier to the opposite electrode.
The total time to breakdown is very much dependent on
the geometry and structure of the barriers. Tree propa-
gation in homogeneous epoxy resin as well as in epoxy
resin with several barriers has been described in detail
by the authors in [3, 5].
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 R. Vogelsang, R. Brütsch, K. Fröhlich: „How imperfections in mica tape barriers influence tree growth and breakdown time“

The total time to breakdown for the 3 mica tapes tested
is not significantly different. The values are between
173 min and 345 min for tape A, between 151 min and
275 min for tape B and between 180 min and 329 min
for tape C (Figure 5-7). In all materials tested the tree
could not penetrate the tape itself when undestroyed.
Tree growth at mica tapes with imperfections
Figure 5–7 show the values measured for total time to
breakdown for mica tapes with imperfections compared
to the values without imperfections (diagrammed at
r = 10 mm) and the values without barrier (diagrammed
at r = 0.1 mm) for all 3 mica tapes tested.
360
tree growth
around the barrier
300
time to breakdown [min]
It has to be mentioned that the mica tapes were bent
convex and concave. For all materials tested no signifi-
cant difference in the total time to breakdown between
convex or concave bent tapes was measured. It is there-
fore not distinguished between the two bending direc-
tions.
The values measured can clearly be divided into
two different types, either the tape was penetrated by the
tree or not. When the tree could not penetrate the mica
tape the values for time to breakdown are similar to the
ones of undestroyed mica tapes (Figure 5-7). When the
tree could penetrate the mica tape, the values for time to
breakdown show a big variance. They vary between
breakdown time values of samples without barrier and
of samples with damaged barrier (Figure 5-7).
All 3 tapes show a bending radius where the tree

tree growth
240
through the barrier
could penetrate the barrier. The probability for the tree
tree growth to penetrate the barrier is reduced with increasing
without barrier
180
bending radius. The radius where the tree cannot
120
penetrate the barrier anywhere is called critical radius rc.
The critical radius is different for the 3 materials tested.
60 The most sensitive tape is material A, the mica tape
with PETP-film and fleece as support material, its
0
0.1 1 10 critical radius is rc = 5 mm (Figure 7). Material B, the
bending radius [mm] tape with PETP as support material is less sensitive, its
Figure 5: Time to breakdown at bent barriers of material A – mica critical radius is rc = 3 mm (Figure 6). The most robust
tape with PETP-film and fleece as support material.
tape is material C, the tape with glass fabric as support
material, its critical radius is rc = 2 mm (Figure 7).
360
tree growth Tape A was penetrated by the tree 18 times, tape B
around the barrier
300 13 times and tape C 9 times (Figure 5-7).
time to breakdown [min]

tree growth

240
through the barrier Tree propagation paths through the mica tapes
tree growth
180
without barrier Beside the values for total time to breakdown, the
treeing- and breakdown paths were also analysed.
120 Figure 8 shows treeing as it spreads on top of an
undestroyed barrier. In contrast, Figure 9 shows the tree
60
as it propagates trough a bent mica tape barrier of the
0 same material (material B) at a bending radius of 2 mm.
0.1 1 10
bending radius [mm]
Figure 6: Time to breakdown at bent barriers of material B – mica
tape with PETP-film as support material.

360
tree growth
around the barrier
300
time to breakdown [min]

tree growth
through the barrier
240
tree growth
Figure 8: Treeing at undestroyed mica barrier of tape B after 180 min.
without barrier
180

120

60

0 tree growth
through the tape
0.1 1 10
bending radius [mm]
Figure 7: Time to breakdown at bent barriers of material C – mica Figure 9: Treeing at a bent mica barrier of tape B with a bending ra-
tape with glass fabric as support material. dius of r = 2 mm after 180 min (tree could penetrate the tape).

2003 Annual Report, Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena, CEIDP, Albuquerque, USA 659
R. Vogelsang, R. Brütsch, K. Fröhlich: „How imperfections in mica tape barriers influence tree growth and breakdown time“
Discussion
In coil insulations of high voltage rotating machines,
mica tape barriers are used to increase tree propagation
path and therefore time to breakdown. For this purpose,
the barriers must be even and undamaged. It was found
that industrially made coils or bars all show
imperfections, e.g. places where the mica tape is bent as
shown in Figures 2-4. It was also found that as a result
of theses imperfections electrical treeing can penetrate
the mica tape if damaged. This can lead to a significant
reduction of the total time to breakdown. The reduction
can be so severe that the barriers seem to be almost not
existent (lower time to breakdown values in Figure 5-7).
The probability for the tree to penetrate the material is
higher at smaller bending radii (Figure 5-7). This is due
to the fact that the mica is not very flexible. The flakes
in the tape will loose its perfect plane parallel
orientation at smaller bending radii and give the tree
more way to penetrate the tape. The flexibility of the
tapes is also given by the support material. It is
therefore assumed that glass fabric used as support
material gives the highest flexibility due to the fact that
rc of material C is the lowest (Figure 7). Tape type (resin
rich or VPI) and size of the mica flakes may also have
an influence on rc. To get more secured information,
further unvestigations must be made.
As described by [1, 8] in coil or bar insulations the
electrical tree usually propagates along the layers of
mica tapes. But when tape bendings with a sufficiently
small radius occur, it is assumed that the tree takes a
“shortcut” similar to that observed at bent barriers in the
needle-plane-arrangement (compare Figure 8 to
Figure 9). It is furthermore assumed that this leads to a
significant reduction of the lifetime of mica insulations.
To support this fact, it is mentioned that in large coil
insulations the tape barriers can be up to a width of 1 m.
On such wide barriers the reduction of time to
breakdown are supposed to be much more dramatically
than on the tested tapes of 20 mm width. It is also
assumed that tape bendings in several layers of coil
insulations have much severe influence on lifetime than
tape bendings in just one layer as tested.
The critical radius was introduced in order to
specify bends where the tree can penetrate the tape. It
can also be used by coil manufacturers to ensure that
possible tape bendings in mica insulations are above the
critical value for a specific tape. Generally it can be said
that the larger the critical radius the more sensitive the
tape to bends and the more critical its application.
Due to its ability to reduce time to breakdown,
bendings in mica tapes must be reduced. There are
many possible measures to reduce the number of
bendings of mica tape during manufacturing of coils.
These are changes in coil geometry, improved flexibility
of mica tapes or improvements of the taping process.
2003 Annual Report, Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena, CEIDP, Albuquerque, USA
Conclusions
1. Mica tapes in industrially made coil insulations
show wrinkles and bends. It was shown in a model
arrangement that an electrical tree can penetrate the
tapes at these regions and time to breakdown can be
reduced significantly. It is therefore recommended to
reduce wrinkles and bendings in coil insulations.
2. Because the tree could penetrate all tapes tested at
bending radii of r ≤ 1 mm, tape bends (e.g. at the
conductor radius) should always be > 1mm.
3. Due to manufacturing causes bends in mica tapes, it
is suggested to increase manufacturing quality of
coil insulations. Especially bendings of r ≤1 mm
must be prevented. Alternatively tapes with a lower
sensitivity for bends should be applied or developed.
4. The critical bending radius is material dependent and
it was observed that resin-rich tapes showed more
wrinkles. Tapes with a lower sensitivity for bends
should therefore be used for RR application.
5. Because the tree can “shortcut” at damaged mica
tapes, insulation quality gets more important for
thinner insulations.
References
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propagation on breakdown in mica insulations” to be presented
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Authors’ addresses:
Ruben Vogelsang, Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology, ETH Centre, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland,
Email: vogelsang@eeh.ee.ethz.ch
Rudolf Brütsch, VonRoll Isola AG Switzerland,
Email: rudolf.bruetsch@vonroll-isola.com
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