Experimental investigation of wettability and evaporation for the surface of PMMA dielectric material used in high-voltage applications and outdoor electrical applications

摘要

Poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a polymeric material widely used in high-voltage applications and outdoor electrical applications. The aging of polymeric insulators is inevitable during their service life. The surface properties of polymeric insulators play an active role in determining and evaluating their service life. Properties such as hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity are some of the methods used in the analysis of surface properties of materials. Within the scope of this study, contact angle measurements were carried out in order to interpretation on the wettability properties (hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity) of PMMA dielectric material, which has an important place in electrical & electronic, and medical applications. Using the designed and implemented contact angle measurement platform, snapshots of the distilled water droplets released onto the PMMA surface were taken at the 0.25, 4, 8, 10, 20, 25, and 30 min for 7 different time points. Images taken from the measurement environment with a digital microscope were processed using basic image processing techniques with the help of a graphical user interface (GUI) developed on the MATLAB platform. As output, contact angle values and contact angle curves depending on time were plotted and the equations were obtained. With the help of contact angles obtained from PMMA surfaces and curves obtained in different models (linear, quadratic, cubic), it will enable correct interpretation of the wettability behavior of the materials and the evaporation. An approach based on contact angle is presented for interpretation on the wettability of PMMA materials. As a result, the correlation between evaporation, time, wettability, and contact angle was observed.