19th IEEE International Conference on Dielectric Liquids (ICDL), Manchester, United Kingdom, 25 – 29 June, 2017
Compatibility of Mineral Insulating Oil with
Transformer Construction Materials
Nataša Bernard
Physical - Chemical Transformer Diagnostics Department
Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract — This study is focused on the determining the
compatibility of mineral insulating oil with various transformer
materials obtained from transformer manufacturers. For this
study, traditional chemical methods, in accordance with the
requirements of the IEC 60422 standard (See Table 3), were
applied. The effects of the various transformer materials - such
as epoxide, polyurethane, cyanoacrylate, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)
adhesives and an epoxy reinforcing bar on the oil's properties
were determined. The findings were evaluated by means of the
sensitivity of individual methods to any changes in the oil’s
properties caused by the transformer materials. Furthermore,
the oil's properties were evaluated according to the requirements
of the ASTM D3455-11 standard, and some tested materials were
excluded.
The aim of the study was to reveal which materials are most
compatible with the oil. This insight could be of great interest to
transformer manufacturers, as it was shown that some materials
could considerably affect the oil's properties.
Keywords - compatibility; transformer oil; adhesives; acidity; IR
spectroscopy, oil interfacial tension
I. INTRODUSCTIN
Mineral insulating oil (hereafter oil) is a vital part of any
liquid-filled transformer, due to its insulating and cooling
properties. The condition of this oil reflects a transformer’s
fitness of use.
During the service life of a transformer, oil ages - degrading
to the point where it needs to be replaced. To prolong the
service life of these oils, some chemical species - inhibitors are
used.
On the other hand, the aging of an oil can be accelerated by
contact with and contamination by various transformer
construction materials, such as: organic adhesives, sealing
rubber, paper etc. Also, some new construction materials such
as various organic adhesives (e.g. epoxides), have recently
been introduced as transformer construction materials.
Therefore, such materials and noncorrosive oil should be
mutually compatible, exhibiting adequate chemically resistance
to each other.
The contamination of oils is based on any electrical,
physical and chemical changes that take place. The
requirements regarding oil properties are provided in IEC
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Biljana ýuþek
Physical - Chemical Transformer Diagnostics Department
Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute
Ljubljana, Slovenia
standards: new oils in IEC 60296 [1], and used oils in IEC
60422 [2]. These standards also provide some
recommendations regarding the importance of various oil
properties. Therefore, the introduction of new construction
materials requires compatibility confirmation which can be
obtained according to the ASTM D3455-11 standard [3].
II. MATERIALS
The compatibility of some construction transformer
materials and the oil was studied. According to the
manufacturer’s data referring to Table I, the specimens
numbered 1, 3 and 5 are cyanoacrylate adhesives, consisting of
cyanoacrylate monomer as their main ingredient. Specimen 2 is
a water-based solution of vinyl alcohol. Specimens 6 and 7 are
polyurethane adhesives. Specimens 4 and 8 are epoxides.
Specimen 4 is a 2-component epoxy adhesive, and Specimen 8
is an epoxy- reinforcing bar – composite made of epoxy
adhesive and glass fibers.
III. TEST METHODS
The following test methods adopted from the ASTM
D3455-11 standard [3], were applied in this study: acidity (A),
interfacial tension (B) and colour (D). The determination of
dielectric dissipation factor (tan į) was omitted as it has been
shown that it is complementary with interfacial tension, but
less sensitive [4]. On the other hand the IR spectroscopy (C)
was added as identification of chemical species in oil seemed
to be of crucial importance for this study.
A. Acidity
With age, the oil is subject to decomposition. The main
decomposition mechanism is oxidation, through which various
acidic products are formed. These products can be divided into
soluble and volatile acids. Aged oil from transformers contains
only soluble acids, while in artificially aged oils, both soluble
and volatile acids are present. Acids affect not only the
dielectric properties of the oil, but can also contribute to the
degradation of cellulosic materials and to the corrosion of
metal parts in a transformer. The acidity was determined with
potentiometric titration of dissolved oil with 0.05 mol/l KOH.
Titration ran up to pH 11.5 and was controlled with a Metrohm
combination glass pH electrode, pH 0–14./0–70 °C LiCl sat in
EtOH.
 19th IEEE International Conference on Dielectric Liquids (ICDL), Manchester, United Kingdom, 25 – 29 June, 2017
B. Interfacial tension
The interfacial tension between the oil and water indicates
the amount of soluble polar contaminants, and/or the
degradation byproducts in the oil. The interfacial tension
decreases with when the polarity of the oil increases. The
measure of interfacial tension was obtained using a digital
tensiometer and was expressed as the force required to separate
a planar ring of platinum wire from water in a layer of oil.
C. IR spectroscopy
Infrared (IR) spectroscopy is often used for qualitative and
quantitative analysis of the chemical species in various
materials. The procedure outlined in IEC 60666; method 3.2
was applied in order to determine the content of the inhibitor
and hydrocarbons (such as aromatics, naphthenes, and
paraffins) in the oil. This method is highly sensitive, enabling
the detection of small quantities of soluble polar decomposition
products at the very beginning of the oil aging process.
Individual decomposition products have characteristic IR
absorption bands at specific wave numbers i.e. aldehydes and
ketones in-between 1690 cmí1 and 1710 cmí1, and carboxylic
acids in-between 1720 cmí1 and 1750 cmí1. Examples of the
IR spectrums of new (˰a) and artificially aged (˰b) oils are
presented in Fig. 1. The dotted area highlights the the
decomposition product bands.
Figure 1. IR spectrums of uninhibited mineral oils [4].
D. Colour
The colour of the oil can be determined either with a
transmitted light analyzer (colorimeter), or else visually by
comparing the colour of the oil with the VDEW-Ölbuch table
[5]. Colour is expressed with a numerical value. It is not an
essential property for the evaluation of the oil’s fitness for use,
but rapidly increasing, or high, colour values may indicate
degradation or contamination of the oil [1]. For this paper the
colour has been determined visually using the VDEW-Ölbuch
table [5] with 8 different colored foils of "Farbtafel" as colour
number.
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IV. EXPERIMENTAL WORK
The specimens consisted of 100 ml of inhibited oil with
properties according to requirements of IEC 60296 [1], in
which various transformer materials (adhesives and a
reinforcing bar), with surface areas ranging from 4.7 cm2 to 7
cm2, were immersed. After that, the specimens in covered glass
containers were conditioned for 10 days in a drying oven at 105
°C. As a control specimen, a blank oil - inhibited oil was used.
The methods suggested by the IEC 60422 standard [2] (colour,
interfacial tension, acidity and inhibitor content) were used to
monitor the chemical properties of the oil. Acidity was
determined according to the IEC 62021-1, interfacial tension
according to the ASTM D971; ring method, and color with the
Farbzahl nach VDEW-Ölbuch table [5]. Furthermore, the IR
spectra of the specimens were obtained according to IEC
60666; method 3.2. The results of analysis of the specimens are
shown in Table I.
V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Below, the obtained analysis data (See Table I) is
discussed. First with reference to the suitability of the methods
used, then with reference to the compatibility of the
construction materials with the oil.
The colour values of all the specimens were < 1, therefore
they did not differ from blank oil. The measurement
uncertainty of the method used is high i.e. ± 0.5 (k = 2),
suggesting that significant colour change would be higher than
grade 1 according to the VDEW-Olbuch table. It can be
concluded that the applied method was not sensitive enough to
allow meaningful comparison between the specimens.
Therefore, further analysis will be conducted using a
transmitted light analyzer (colorimeter), which has an
estimated uncertainty of ± 0.2, and the results will be published
elsewhere at a later stage.
The highest interfacial tension (45 mN/m) was obtained for
the Control specimen-the blank oil. The interfacial tensions of
the other specimens were lower, the lowest (14 mN/m) was
being obtained for Specimen 7 (oil + polyurethane adhesive).
The significance of these results is reinforced by their low
measurement uncertainty (± 2 mN/m (k = 2)). The reduction of
the interfacial tension of Specimens 6 and 7, compared to that
of the Control specimen was quite substantial. It can be
assumed that this reduction of the interfacial tension of the oil
originates from the polyurethane adhesive’s dissolved polar
molecules.
The acidity of Specimen 8 was determined to be 0.03 mg
KOH/ g oil, while the acidity of all other specimens was 0.01
mg KOH/ g oil. Considering the measurement uncertainty
(± 0.01 mg KOH/ g oil (k=2)), no significant variations were
observed. It can be assumed that for low acidity conditions the
method applied here is not sensitive enough.
The inhibitor content of each specimen was determined
based on its characteristic IR band at 3650 cmí1 (See Fig. 2 a).
All the Specimens had an inhibitor content of about 0.30 %
(m/m). The variations in the inhibitor content of the specimens
are insignificant as measurement uncertainty is ± 0.01 % (m/m)
 19th IEEE International Conference on Dielectric Liquids (ICDL), Manchester, United Kingdom, 25 – 29 June, 2017

(k=2). Nevertheless, it can be observed that the inhibitor
content of the specimens was not affected by the contaminants.
In the IR spectra of Specimen 8 IR band at 1744 cmí1 (See
bordered area in Fig. 2 a) was observed. This corresponds to
C=O stretch characteristic for contamination or oil-aging
byproducts like ketones, aldehydes and carboxylic acids. It
could indicate the early phase of oil degradation in Specimen 8
(Notea1).
The compatibility of the specimens with the oil was
estimated on the basis of methods relevant to the case study i.e.
interfacial tension and IR spectrometry. The findings of the
research are:
The adhesives in Specimens 1 and 2 are compatible with
inhibited oil, as their chemical characteristics were not affected.
The adhesives in Specimens 3, 4 and 5 lowered the
interfacial tension of the oil moderately, but had no visible
impact on color, acidity or inhibitor content, and therefore are
conditionally compatible with inhibited oil.
Among the other studied materials, it seems that the
adhesives in Specimens 6 and 7 and the bar in specimen 8 are
the least compatible with inhibited oil. In these specimens the
interfacial tension of the oil was significantly reduced.
Additionally Specimen 8 showing a strong increase in the
acidity of the oil.

VI. CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that cyanoacrylate and PVA adhesives
are the most compatible with inhibited mineral transformer oil.
Epoxy adhesives lowered the interfacial tension of the oil,
indicating that the epoxides are conditionally compatible with
the oil. Polyurethane adhesives and the epoxy bar significantly
lowered the interfacial tension of the oil. Additionally, the
epoxy bar increased the acidity of the oil. It can be concluded
that, according to the results of this study, polyurethane and
epoxy materials are the least compatible with transformer oil.
In this study, interfacial tension was shown to be the most
indicative measure for the estimation of a transformer
materials' compatibility, while on the other hand the colour
could be pointed out as the least indicative measure, when not
determined by a colorimeter.
Figure 2. IR spectrums of the specimens.
REFERENCES
Analysis data for the acidity, interfacial tension and colour [1] Mineral insulating oils in electrical equipment – Supervision and
of the inhibited oils are presented in Table 1. maintenance guidance, IEC 60422, Edition 4.0, January 2013.
TABLE I. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS RESULTS OF THE SPECIMENS OF [2] Fliuds for electrotechnical applications – Unused mineral insulating oils
INHIBITED OIL AFTER 10 DAYS OF CONDITIONING AT 105 °C IN THE PRESENCE for transformers and switchgear, IEC 60269, Edition 4.0, February 2012.
OF VARIOUS TRANSFORMER CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS. [3] Standard Test Methods for Compatibility of Construction Material with
Electrical Insulating Oil of Petroleum Origin, ASTM D3455-11, June
Acidity Interfacial Inhibitor 2011.
Colour
Specimen (mg KOH/ tension content
(-) [4] N. Bernard, and B. ýuþek, “Methods for monitoring age-related changes
g oil ) ( mN/m) (%(m/m))
in transformer oils”, IEEE 18th Int’l Conf. Dielectr. Liquids (ICDL),
Control specimen-blank oil 0.01 45 <1 0.30 Bled, Slovenia, pp.1-5, 2014.
1 [5] VDEW-Ölbuch, Band 1: Schmierstoffe und Steuerflüssigkeiten, VDEW,
(oil + cyanoacrylate adhesive)
0.01 44 <1 0.31
Frankfurt am Main 1996.
2
(oil + PVA adhesive)
0.01 43 <1 0.31
3
(oil + cyanoacrylate adhesive)
0.01 42 <1 0.31
4
(oil + epoxy adhesive)
0.01 38 <1 0.31
5
(oil + cyanoacrylate adhesive)
0.01 35 <1 0.31
6
(oil + polyurethane adhesive)
0.01 24 <1 0.30
7
(oil + polyurethane adhesive)
0.01 14 <1 0.30
8
(oil + epoxy bar)
0.03 36 <1 0.29
Note 1: The degradation products were qualitatively confirmed with IR spectroscopy for Specimen 8
only.

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