Characteristics of electroluminescence phenomenon in virgin and thermally aged LDPE

Abstract

High voltage cable requires a good insulating material such as low density polyethylene (LDPE) to be able to operate efficiently in high voltage stresses and high temperature environment. However, any polymeric material will experience degradation after prolonged application of high electrical stresses or other extreme conditions. The continuous degradation will shorten the life of a cable therefore further understanding on the behaviour of the aged high voltage cable needs to be undertaken. This may be observed through electroluminescence (EL) measurement. EL occurs when a solid-state material is subjected to a high electrical field stress and associated with the generation of charge carriers within the polymeric material and that these charges can be produced by injection, de-trapping and field-dissociation at the metal-polymer interface. The behaviour of EL emission can be affected by applied field, applied frequency, ageing time, ageing temperature and types of materials, among others. This paper focuses on the measurement of EL emission of additive-free LDPE thermally aged at different temperature subjected to varying electric stresses at 50Hz. It can be observed that EL emission increases as voltage applied is increased. However, EL emission decreases as ageing temperature is increased for varying applied voltage.