The Effect of Span 80 Surfactant in Transformer Oil-Based TiO₂ Nanofluids on the Chemical Properties of FTIR Micro-Spectrometer

Transformer oil is the most popular liquid because it acts as a coolant and electrical insulator for transformers. It is important to note that the electrical insulation value of the transformer oil reduces as the temperature of the transformer rises while it is being used. This requires the development and improvement of dielectric properties in transformer oil. The incorporation of nanoparticles into transformer oil has been the subject of a great deal of research due to its potential to improve both its efficiency and its dielectric qualities. But because the nanoparticles are solid and the transformer oil is liquid, the ability to disperse the nanoparticles into the transformer oil is not very good. It is necessary to have a coactivator that enables the nanoparticles to dispersion effectively in the transformer oil, which is a surfactant. In this article, the effects of Span 80 surfactant at 0%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100%, and 110 wt.% of the particle volume were studied. At a concentration of 0.01% of the volume of transformer oil, nanoparticles in transformer oil are combined with nanoparticles of titanium dioxide (TiO<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf>) via a mixing process. We can find out what elements and compositions have changed when we add Span 80 surfactant to transformer oil that has nanoparticles in it using Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) analysis. The test results show that an FTIR test found that adding surfactant lowers the highest level of absorption for the O-H and C-H functional groups. This happens when Span 80 surfactant makes up 90% to 110% of the particle volume. In comparison to conventional transformer oil and transformer oil that has been combined with nanoparticles, it has the lowest weight percentage, which is 90%. The FTIR test that was just described reveals changes in the components and composition of transformer oil that are expected to effect the electrical characteristics of the hybrid mixture of nanoparticles and transformer oil.