Degradation Dynamics of Polymeric Housing Materials Used for HV Line and Station Apparatus

A combination of laser irradiation and thermogravimetric analysis has been utilized to understand the degradation dynamics of polymeric materials used for housings of outdoor high voltage (HV) line and apparatus insulators, namely, silicone rubber, ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber and cycloaliphatic epoxy. The induced temperature rise was calculated using laser photo-thermal models and the results were found to be in good agreement with experimental findings. It has been shown that there are significant differences in the degradation dynamics of silicone rubber when compared with ethylene propylene diene monomer and epoxy. It has also been shown that the laser irradiation technique can be used as an efficient method to rank polymers materials for arc tracking and erosion resistance, especially for present day materials that will easily pass the screening tests prescribed in the ASTM and IEC standards.