DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRICAL PORCELAIN INSULATOR FROM LOCALLY AVAILABLE CLAY (AKURE, EKITI AND ABEOKUTA)

Abstract

In this work investigations were carried out to determine the suitability of some locally available clay raw material for the purpose of fabricating electrical porcelain insulators. Kaolin and Ball clay were first cleaned of the deleterious material, milled .and sieved through a mesh of 200J.lm. Pre-determined portions of various mixes were made into a slip and cast into porcelain insulators of standard dimension in a plaster of Paris. The samples were dried, fired and thereafter subjected to physical, mechanical and electrical tests to determine their properties. The obtained properties were compared with those of imported porcelain insulator. The results obtained indicated that the porcelain insulator produced possesses a very good physical, mechanical and electrical property comparable with commercially available ones. The sample with composition of 320/0Kaolin, 15% ball clay, 28% feldspar and 250/0quartz was found to possess the best properties due to low water absorption (1.520/0), high bulk density (1.78), failing load (8.4KN)· with the appreciable insulation resistance property of 8,038.1 Megaohms at injection of 5000volts.