The Key Role of Wollastonite in Electric Porcelain: High Voltage Resistance Solution

In modern power systems, power ceramics, as an important component of insulation materials, are widely used in high-voltage transmission, substation equipment, and electrical devices. This type of ceramic product must have excellent mechanical strength, high temperature resistance, and good electrical insulation properties to ensure the stable operation of the power grid system. As a functional mineral raw material, wollastonite plays an irreplaceable role in the manufacturing process of electric porcelain.

1、 Basic Requirements and Challenges of Electric Porcelain

Electric porcelain is mainly used to manufacture key components such as insulators, bushings, lightning arresters, etc. Its working environment is usually under high voltage, high current, and even extreme weather conditions. Therefore, the requirements for materials are extremely strict:

High strength: able to withstand long-term mechanical stress and external pressures such as wind and ice loads;

High insulation: maintains good electrical insulation ability even in humid and polluted environments;

Thermal stability: Adapt to sudden temperature changes and avoid cracking caused by thermal expansion and contraction;

Aging resistance: it is not easy to cause performance degradation after long-term use.

Faced with these stringent conditions, traditional ceramic raw materials such as feldspar and clay are no longer able to fully meet the demand, which has prompted the industry to continuously explore the introduction of new high-performance raw materials, and wollastonite is one of the key breakthrough points.

2、 The unique advantages of wollastonite

Wollastonite (CaSiO ∝) is a natural calcium silicate mineral that exhibits significant advantages in the formulation design of power ceramics due to its unique physical and chemical properties

Low loss on ignition and low moisture absorption

Wollastonite does not contain crystalline water and does not release gas or moisture during high-temperature sintering, which helps reduce the porosity of the green body, improve density, and enhance the mechanical strength and electrical insulation performance of the product.

Good electrical insulation performance

Under high frequency or high voltage environments, wollastonite exhibits low dielectric constant and dielectric loss, which can effectively prevent the occurrence of leakage and breakdown phenomena, making it an ideal ceramic filler.

Enhance structural stability

Wollastonite has certain fibrous structural characteristics and plays a "skeleton" supporting role in the ceramic matrix, enhancing the material's bending strength and impact resistance.

Reduce the shrinkage rate during firing

Compared to traditional clay materials, the linear expansion coefficient of wollastonite is smaller, which helps to control the deformation of the body during sintering and improve the dimensional accuracy and consistency of the finished product.

Environmental protection and safety

Wollastonite is non-toxic and non radioactive, meeting the requirements of modern industry for environmentally friendly materials, and suitable for the production of green power equipment.

3、 Application forms of wollastonite in electric porcelain

According to different product types and technical requirements, wollastonite can be used in the production of power ceramics in the following ways:

Directly adding raw material formula: as one of the main components, it is mixed with other raw materials such as kaolin, quartz, potassium feldspar, etc. in proportion to participate in the entire sintering process.

As a glaze additive: used to improve the quality of glaze surface, enhance surface smoothness and wear resistance, while improving insulation performance.

Composite modification treatment: By surface activation treatment or compounding with other functional fillers, its dispersibility and interfacial adhesion in the ceramic system are further optimized.

4、 Practical application case analysis

Taking a large insulator production enterprise as an example, the introduction of 5% to 10% wollastonite into the original electric porcelain formula has significantly improved product performance:

The compressive strength has increased by about 15%;

The volume resistivity increases by more than 20%;

The qualification rate of firing has increased by 3 percentage points;

The appearance defect rate has decreased by nearly half.

This indicates that wollastonite can not only improve the microstructure of power ceramics, but also significantly enhance their comprehensive performance, especially in high-voltage and ultra high voltage transmission equipment.

The application of wollastonite in power ceramics not only improves the technical performance of products, but also provides strong guarantees for the safe operation of power equipment. As one of the important raw materials for modern electric porcelain industry, it is driving the entire industry towards high performance and high reliability. With the continuous upgrading and replacement of the power system, wollastonite will play an increasingly important role in the future energy infrastructure construction. For related enterprises, in-depth research on the application mechanism of wollastonite and optimization of its processing and use technology will be the key to enhancing their core competitiveness.