Water treeing phenomena in amorphous dielectrics

Author

Shaw, S.H. ; Shaw, M.T.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Mater. Sci., Connecticut Univ., Storrs, CT, USA

fYear

1990

fDate

3-6 Jun 1990

Firstpage

187

Lastpage

190

Abstract

Polystyrene was used to study the role of material variables in water-tree growth. Matrix stiffness, crosslink density, and additives were studied for their influence on the process of tree initiation and/or growth. It was found that amorphous, plasticized, and crosslinked polystyrene were all susceptible to water treeing. In crosslinked samples, water-tree growth was inhibited above a certain crosslink density. Lowering the stiffness of the polymer by plasticization markedly coarsened the water trees produced. Interfaces, while providing initiating sites in some instances, did slow the growth of impinging trees. The implications for water treeing in polyolefins are discussed

Keywords

electric breakdown of solids; organic insulating materials; polymers; additives; amorphous dielectrics; crosslink density; crosslinked polystyrene; impinging trees; initiating sites; material variables; matrix stiffness; plasticization; polyolefins; tree initiation; water-tree growth; Additives; Amorphous materials; Crystalline materials; Crystallization; Dielectric materials; Polyethylene; Polymers; Slabs; Testing; Trees - insulation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electrical Insulation, 1990., Conference Record of the 1990 IEEE International Symposium on

Conference_Location

Toronto, Ont.

ISSN

1089-084X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ELINSL.1990.109737

Filename

109737