Simulation of electrical tree growth in metal-loaded composites

Based on the WZ model, a percolation model of metal-loaded composites is simulated in different volume concentrations of metal particles to investigate its dielectric breakdown characteristics. By comparing with the simulation figures, the effects of model parameters on the development of the electrical trees are discussed, such as different volume concentrations of metal particles, electric potential, threshold voltage and probability exponent. The results present that with the increase of volume concentration of metal particles, the number of branches increases. Therefore, the conductivity of insulation material is significantly enhanced by metal particles and the percolation threshold is 0.6. In addition, with the increase of electric potential and the decrease of the threshold voltage and the probability exponent, the number of branches and accumulated damage increase. The result of the characteristic of electrical tree conforms to the actual conditions.