Electrical lnsulative Properties of Some Agro-Waste Material~.
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Insulating materials are used in electrical power circuits to
prevent leakages of current. This work investigates the
possibility of using agro-waste materials: shells of coconut,
mango endocarp, palm kernel, groundnut and bean as well as
corncob and rice husk, as electrical insulators. Accordingly,
electrical insulative properties: dielectric strength, resistivity,
dielectric constant, moisture content and water absorption
capacity of these waste materials were determined Each of
the materials was washed, air dried for 2 weeks, ground into
powder, and sieved with, the U.S Standard Sieve No. 40. It
was then bound with a 200 gllitre aqueous solution of gum
Arabic, and moulded into various shapes and thicknesses
which were air dried for a week. Their dielef:tric strengths
were tested thereafter, using a variable trarisformer tester;
their resistivities measured with an i41sulation tester, while
both moisture contents and water absoiption capacities were
determined gravimetrically on dry weight basis. The results
showed that the electrical insulative properties of these
materials were C011Jparable with the known standard values.
However, their moisture contents and water absorption
capacities were relatively high, thereby limiting their
usefulness as insulators in their ordinary states. Based on
their dielectric constants and a standard table, coconut, palm
kemel and groundnut shells, with dielectric constants range
of 3.5-5.5 fall into high voltage applications; mango shell,
corncob, rice lntsk and bean shell, with dielectric constants
less than 3. 0, fall into the low voltage application category.
Keywords
T Technology (General), TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery