Study of pigment influence in high density polyethylene electrical strength

In this work, the TiO₂ pigment influence in HDPE dielectric strength was analyzed. Chemical and structural characterizations were made to identify changes during the processing and the influence in the electrical properties. Formulations containing 0, 0.5, 1, 2.5, 4 and 6 of titanium dioxide were processed by extrusion and injection molding with stabilization-antioxidants, ultraviolet stabilizers and plasticizers. The electrical strength tests were analyzed by the statistical distribution of Weibull, and the maximum likelihood method. The high concentrations present lower values to electrical strength. The β parameter could be using to insulator particles dispersion. The TiO₂ concentration variation shows that these incorporations implicate strength value increase has a maximum (5,35 MV/cm). High pigment concentration induces a fall in property values. Observing the βparameter, minimum experimental electric field (Ebmin) and electric strength value, found that the best electric perform formulation was the formulation with 2.5% TiO₂ weight.