Nano-dielectrics are sensitive to humidity and easily degraded in damp environment because of the high surface energy of nanoparticles. In order to study the effect of humidity on the dielectric properties of nano-dielectric, polypropylene (PP) was modified by polyolefin elastomer (POE) and nano-SiO2, and the samples with obvious filling concentration were pre-selected by breakdown strength for damp aging. The aging experiments were carried out in different relative humidity. The dielectric properties of new, hygroscopic saturation and samples after drying were measured and analyzed. It is found that the breakdown strength of hygroscopic saturation nano-dielectrics decreased obviously compared with new samples, and it was difficult to recover after drying. The damp degradation resulted in different changing trends of permittivity of PP and nano-dielectric, but there were relaxation loss peaks of water in both of them. The influence of damp degradation on the trap distribution was studied by thermally stimulated depolarization currents (TSDC), and it was found that the traps level introduced by water molecules was different in PP and nano-dielectrics. All experiment results showed that the performance of nano-dielectrics degraded obviously in humid environment, and it was difficult to recover even after complete drying because of the existence of bounded water molecules in nano-dielectrics.
Keywords: PP-based nano-dielectric; damp degradation; dielectric properties; water molecules distribution.