Surface Change of Polyamide Nanocomposite Caused by Partial Discharges

We have investigated partial discharge (PD) degradation for conventional polyamide-6 without nanoscale fillers (nanofillers) and polyamide-6 nanocomposites with 2 weight (wt) %, 4 wt% and 5 wt% addition. Such materials were subjected to partial discharge under the IEC (b) electrode configuration for evaluation. Comparisons were made as to the surface roughness observed by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. It was found that the change in the surface roughness was far smaller in specimens with nanofillers than those without nanofillers, and that the 2 wt% addition was sufficient for improvement. This result indicates that polyamide-6 nanocomposite is more resistive to PDs than polyamide 6 without nanofillers.