Analysis of tracking phenomena in silicone rubber insulation material using moving average technique

In the present work, tracking phenomenon in silicone rubber material has been studied under DC voltage, with ammonium chloride as a contaminant. It is observed that the tracking is more severe under the DC voltages. The leakage current during the tracking studies were measured and the moving average technique was adopted to understand the trend in current flow. The leakage current magnitude is high with surface roughened specimens compared to the virgin specimen, irrespective of the type of applied voltage. It is realized that the tracking time and the leakage current magnitude shows an inverse relationship.