Application Possibilities of Fused Filament Fabrication Technology for High-Voltage and Medium-Voltage Insulation Systems

The aim of this work was to evaluate the use of FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) technology in high and medium voltage applications. The research is based on previous work, where the dependence of dielectric strength of 3D printed objects on printing resolution (the thickness of one layer) was examined. Four polymer materials designated for FFF were chosen for the experiments - ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), PET-G (polyethylene terephthalate - glycol modified), ASA (acrilonitrile styren acrylate) and PP (polypropylene). The following tests of the printed samples from such materials were conducted - atmospheric impulse test with positive polarity, short-term AC and DC breakdown strength tests and measurement of partial discharges. Based on acquired results, the optimal material for unipolar stresses (DC and impulse) is PP, whereas for bipolar stresses it is a close match between ABS and PET-G. For systems in which all three types of stresses occur, ASA seems to be the best compromise. Although the dielectric strength of the examined 3D structures is sufficient, an improvement of these materials would be proper, for example by adding admixtures to the base materials or better printing quality.