In this paper, a set of performance metrics for modern biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) capacitor films is established. The fundamental and applied properties of BOPP films required for application in state-of-the-art DC metallized film capacitors are reviewed, highlighting aspects related to high temperature operation, base PP properties and film processing. Commercial BOPP films — both base films and metallized films based on classic isotactic PP — are studied comprehensively, encompassing structural–morphological characterization and short- to medium-term dielectric characterization. Dielectric spectroscopy results demonstrate the negligible dielectric losses of BOPP, being in the range of 10– ⁴ or less in the expected operation temperature regime. Thermally stimulated depolarization current (TSDC) measurements indicated a modest density of shallow traps (~0.75 eV) and a high density of deep traps (~1.08 eV) in the 5 μm and 10 μm film variants showing differences presumably arising from film processing. Such an electronic structure was found to be connected with ultra-low conductivity (in the range of 10– ¹⁷ –10– ¹⁶ S/m), high breakdown strength (~700 V/μm) and negligible space charge accumulation up to temperatures of ~70 °C. It is shown that at current design stresses (~200 V/μm at ~60 °C) BOPP is operated close to its fundamental thermal and electrical limitations. Voltage endurance tests at higher fields revealed the onset of high-field degradation and drastically reduced insulation life, and thermal activation of deep traps in the high temperature region (~100 °C) was found to result in reduced dielectric performance.

Dielectric polymer nanocomposites are considered as one of the most promising insulation material candidates for future capacitive energy storage applications, providing tailorability of charge trapping and transport properties at the nanometric level which is a key for increased dielectric performance of biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) for metallized film capacitors in high-voltage direct current (HVDC) applications. In this study, a comprehensive investigation of morphology and dielectric performance of pilot-scale BOPP nanocomposites with hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS)-treated hydrophobic fumed silica nanoparticles was carried out, providing critical perspectives on the performance and challenges of PNCs for thin film capacitors also in a broader context. In non-oriented cast films, incorporation of nanosilica modified the crystallization kinetics and α/β-crystalline spherulitic morphology of polypropylene and reduced the accumulation of space charge under a DC electric field. The nanocomposites exhibited promising dispersion characteristics in the nano-scale, however, the low amount of micron-sized agglomerates inherently present in commercial fumed silica persisted in the compounds which can become critical for thin film applications. Subsequently, biaxial-stretching-induced morphology development and dielectric properties of silica-BOPP nanocomposites were evaluated, highlighting the role of precursor morphology and film processing in the silica-BOPP film morphology, defects and dielectric performance. Charge trapping and transport properties of silica-BOPP films were investigated by isothermal and thermally stimulated techniques under high DC electro-thermal stresses, indicating profound modification of the trap density of states brought about by nanosilica. This resulted in more homogeneous space charge distribution and reduced temperature- and field dependent DC conductivity at 100 °C in comparison to neat BOPP under moderate field stresses (<200 V μm⁻¹), while simultaneously maintaining low dielectric loss. However, the localized weak points caused by silica agglomerates still remain a challenge for the structural homogeneity and dielectric breakdown performance of thin BOPP films under extreme-field stress, hence emphasizing the need for further advancements in the agglomerate and PNC film morphology control to provide high-reliability nanodielectric capacitor thin films for practical HVDC film capacitor applications.

A multi-breakdown measurement method for large-area dielectric breakdown characterization of polymer films is presented and evaluated. Based on the self-healing breakdown capability of metalized film, large amount of breakdown data can be obtained from a relatively large total film area, thus enabling the execution of detailed breakdown performance analysis. The studied films include non-metalized laboratory-scale, pilot-scale and commercial capacitor-grade bi-axially oriented polypropylene films in the thickness range of 14-25 μm. With the active measurement area of 81 cm ² per sample, breakdown distributions covering total film areas of 486-972 cm ² are presented. Various aspects encompassing the sample film preparation, measurement procedure, breakdown progression, discharge event characterization, breakdown field determination, data validation and statistical analysis are discussed. Comparative small-area breakdown measurements were performed in order to study the relationship between the large-area multi-breakdown measurement method and a conventional small-area (1 cm ² ) manual breakdown measurement method. Implications of the area-dependence and the applicability of the Weibull area-scaling are also discussed.