Magnetics Business & Technology - July/August 2019 - 8

FEATURE ARTICLE

Tech Tips: Composite Film Technology, the Next Breakthrough in Flexible Electrical
Insulating Materials
By Dr. Tom Murray, Marc Barmeier, Stephen Tuckwell
Elantas PDG, Inc.

Introduction to Flexible Electrical Insulation
The application conditions for any piece of electrical equipment can be extreme. It is therefore vitally important that
insulation systems for motors, generators and transformers are designed around the most critical conditions. The
right selection of insulating components including Flexible
Electrical Insulation for the various voltages and temperature classes is paramount to the integrity of the electrical
equipment.
Flexible Electrical Insulation layers protect insulated wires
from coming into contact with steel cores, hold wires in
place, and provide a phase-to-phase barrier. To protect
the conductor and insulation structure against mechanical,
electrical, environmental and thermal stress, the whole
winding is then consolidated using a compatible resin system. Typical Flexible Electrical Insulation applications are
slot liners, phase insulations, wedges and slot closures.

ELAN-Film HT-180
ELAN-Film HT-180 is the debut product solution in a new
Elantas product family, which expands the potential of flexible insulation compared with conventional laminate combinations. It is an innovative material ideally matched to
the performance required while operating at temperature
ranges up to 200 degrees C, ensuring that electrical machines have a long and reliable service life. It is designed
for low-voltage motors and generators to protect insulated
copper from the steel core (slot liner) and where phase-tophase insulation is required. It can easily be preformed so

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Magnetics Business & Technology * July/August 2019

it is excellent for use as a slot closure or in areas where
formed insulation is essential and is fully compatible with a
wide range of impregnating and potting resins.
Overview
Flexible materials used as electrical insulation are of three
main types: papers, film, and laminate structures. Aramid
fiber paper has been the industry standard for the past 50
years and has a thermal class of 200 but suffers from moisture absorption and orientation limitations. Hence, insulation technologies developed laminates with high thermal
capability aramid papers on low thermal class PET films.
While these products have been on the market for many
years, there has been a need for technologically improved
products to overcome the deficiencies of laminates, papers, and film.
The technical paper introduces a newly developed product, a composite film substrate with better electrical and
mechanical properties to overcome the present limitations
in laminates. This paper will cover the product description,
its comparative advantages over present laminates, and
the benefits for the electrical industry in total.
Flexible Materials for Electrical Insulation
Flexible materials used as electrical insulation are of three
main types: papers, film, and laminate structure. Papers
are of a variety of thermal classes. Most are of low thermal
index (rag, nonwoven polyester, cellulose, cotton fiber).
However, aramide fiber paper has been the industry standard for the past 50 years and has a thermal class of 200.
Papers have deficiencies such as poor electrical properties and low physical and mechanical properties.
The film materials available in the marketplace are of either low thermal class (polyester, PET) or high thermal
class and high expense such as polyimide (PI) films. The
disadvantage of the PI films is not only the high cost but
also the relatively thin (12-50 micron) thicknesses available at reasonable costs.
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