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Bibliometric research is statistical analysis of publications to identify the most influencing sources of research pertaining to a specific area of research. This paper presents an overview research on rice straw/husk (RS/RH) reinforced polymer composites by using the bibliometric indicators to establish the research framework and to identify the essential research. The relevant journals, authors, institutions and countries which have significantly contributed to research on RS/RH based composite is focused. The bibliometric data is generated through Scopus database. It is observed that the number of publications on characterization of RS/RH based composites are consistently increasing over the last few years along with their citations. The major focus of the researchers is to determine the mechanical (tensile and flextural) and thermal properties of these composites. The countries which are supporting the research of this nature through funding are Malaysia, Europe and USA. The number of publications on material characterization of RS/RH composites has increased almost linearly in the recent years. About 88.90 % of the articles which are published in the journals are related to engineering, material science and agricultural domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Located near the equator, Malaysia is a country with one of the highest lightning densities in the world. Lightning contributes to 70% of the power outages in Malaysia and affects power equipment, automated network systems, causes data losses and monetary losses in the nation. Therefore, consideration of insulator evaluation under lightning impulses can be crucial to evaluate and attempt to overcome this issue. This paper presents a new approach to increase the electrical performance of polymer insulators using a Room Temperature Vulcanisation (RTV) coating. The evaluation involves three different settings of polymer insulator, namely uncoated, RTV type 1, and RTV type 2 upper surface coatings. All the insulators were tested under three different conditions as dry, clean wet and salty under different impulse polarities using the even-rising test method. The voltage breakdown for each test was recorded. From the experiment, it was found that the effectiveness of the RTV coating application became apparent when tested under salty or polluted conditions. It increased the voltage withstand capabilities of the polymer insulator up to 50% from the basic uncoated insulator. Under dry and clean conditions, the RTV coating provided just a slight increase of the breakdown voltage. The increase in voltage breakdown capability decreased the probability of surface discharge and dry band arcing that could cause degradation of the polymeric material housing. The RTV type 1 coating was found to be more effective when performing under a lightning impulse. The findings might help the utility companies improve the performance of their insulators in order to increase power system reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]