Effect of ethylene-acrylic acid and sorbital on the formation of water treeing in polyethylene

This paper presents the properties of the water treeing forming in pure polyethylene (PE), and PE modified by ethylene-acrylic acid (EAA) and sorbital. The experimental voltage and time play an important role in water treeing formation. Polar groups introduced by EAA and sorbital can attract water molecular to make water molecular uniform distribute in material. Thus a water drop can´t form, and the water treeing is inhibited. Our results suggest that the EAA and sorbital modified PE might become a kind of new insulating material of cable with resisting the water treeing. The samples with the water treeing can be recovered after being dried and then injected the transformer oil into them under vacuum, which illustrates that the samples with the water treeing may self-cure with this treatment.