Aging Behaviour & Resistance of Ceramic Insulators

The remaining lifetime of the aging grid is an important question anywhere in the world, the Transmission Systems Operators (TSO) must anticipate end-of-life and refurbish at the right moments, not too early and not too late. Electric energy supply security and availability is a strategic topic for all TSO: our society supports fewer and fewer blackouts and the potential consequences are more and more serious and expensive than ever. Aging is a creeping risk factor for a potential transmission system failure and needs to be monitored permanently. All materials are aging – also ceramics.

In this study which was presented at the INMR World Congress 20223 in Bangkok, by Markku Ruokanen, ITG Group Quality and R&D Director you will learn about the aging of ceramic materials, what the typical material defects (quartz, porosity, hard particles, etc.) and how to eliminate them. The failure modes and the mineralogical analysis gave important information on the remaining lifetime and the quality of the alumian porcelain in the 80’s. Long Rods from the 80’s are aging much longer than anticipated.

Aging Behaviour & Resistance of Ceramic Insulators