Monitoring and prediction of thermal failure of high-voltage switchgear insulation materials by studying the thermodynamic properties of FR-4 epoxy resin and the characteristic gas of thermal decomposition

Abstract FR-4 epoxy resin is a common material used as internal parts in high voltage switchgear. In this paper, we adopted the accelerated thermal aging method to explore behavior of resin, simulating practical application switch. The effects on thermodynamic properties and decomposition characteristic gases were characterized by FT-IR, DSC, TG GC-MS analyses. experiment results showed that could destroy crystal structure which lead easier be decomposed after heating. We also detected rate was greatly compared with materials had not been aged. addition, unaged release 9 main volatile under 120°C, irreversible defects or structural damages occurred along volatilization small organic molecules. Furthermore, continuous at 120 °C for 672 h, molecules more cracked volatilized, observed obvious phenomenon materials. total, types decomposion mechanism aged resin. application, our can provide reference condition monitoring fault prediction switchgear future.