Influence of environmental factors on hydrophobicity transfer property of silicone rubber material

Silicone rubber materials have been widely used as external insulation for power systems due to their good hydrophobicity and hydrophobicity transfer. However, pollution flashover accidents of composite insulators occurred from time to time in recent years. The influence of environmental condition on hydrophobicity and hydrophobicity transfer property of silicone rubber material needs further research. In this paper, incubator and saturated salt solution were used respectively to control ambient temperature and humidity precisely. Hydrophobicity measurement method were studied and regulated. Using incubator and special temperature control platform, hydrophobicity transfer property of silicone rubber material in different temperature was deeply studied, and the results were analyzed. The results showed that hydrophobicity transfer speed of silicone rubber slowed down with temperature decreased. Meanwhile, the results showed that ambient humidity had a great influence on hydrophobicity transfer property of silicone rubber. Flashover performance of silicone rubber samples with different hydrophobicity was analyzed. The results showed that the pollution flashover performance of composite insulators is closely related to the hydrophobicity state of the polluted surface.