Statistical Investigation of Lightning Impulse Breakdown Voltage of Natural and Synthetic Ester Oils-Based Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>, Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> and SiO<sub>2</sub> Nanofluids

The characteristics of lighting impulse breakdown voltage (LI-BDV) constitute key performance indicators of insulating materials, especially in insulations based on liquids and liquid-paper for high voltage applications. Encouraged by environmental policies worldwide, new insulating liquids have been developed in recent years. Among these are natural and synthetic esters that are currently considered as potential substitutes for traditional mineral oils due to their environmentally friendly properties. Recent technological advances have shown that the addition of specific nanoparticles (NPs) to insulating liquids can improve both the dielectric withstand voltage and the thermal behavior of liquid insulations. This paper examines the effects of some NPs on the negative LI-BDV of natural and synthetic ester liquids, namely MIDEL 1204 and MIDEL 7131, respectively. The used NPs are Fe3O4, Al2O3 and SiO2. The LI-BDV measurements are executed in accordance with IEC 60060 standard, and the breakdown voltage with 1% probability risk (i.e., the lowest possible breakdown voltage) was also estimated. The experimental results showed that these NPs improved the LI-BDV of both synthetic and natural ester liquids and an optimal concentration of NPs can be determined. Statistical analysis was also performed to check the compliance of the experimental results with the most common probability distributions, normal and Weibull distributions.