Decomposition characteristics and influencing mechanisms of C4F7N/CO2 gas with different metal materials

C4F7N/CO2 gas mixture, as the main new environmentally friendly gas insulation medium, is now being widely used in the ring network switchgear and other gas electrical equipment. In this paper, a test platform was constructed to simulate partial discharge in a gas medium, the decomposition characteristics of the C4F7N/CO2 gas mixture during suspended potential discharge were studied under four different metal electrode materials: stainless steel, purple copper, tungsten copper, and aluminum alloy. The results show that the main decomposition products of the C4F7N/CO2 gas mixture during suspended discharge are CO, CF4, C4F8, C3F8, C3F6, CF3CN, and C2F4 gases, which are independent of the metal material. On the whole, when the metal electrode material is stainless steel, the highest amount of decomposition products are generated from the C4F7N/CO2 gas mixture; when the metal electrode material is aluminum alloy, the amount of decomposition products produced by C4F7N/CO2 gas mixture is the least, and the content difference of some decomposition products between these two metal materials is as high as 70%. The decomposition products of the C4F7N/CO2 gas mixture decreased gradually with the increase in the gas pressure. Finally, the influence mechanism of different metal materials on the decomposition process of the C4F7N/CO2 gas mixture was analyzed from the microscopic perspectives of charge transfer between gas molecules and molecular structural characteristics. In general, the research results can provide technical reference for the design, selection, and optimization of environmental protection gas insulation equipment.