Evaluation of thermoplastic polyolefin materials for the hard shed of composite insulators

Abstract

AbstractThis article explores the possibility of using polyolefin materials for composite insulator sheds. The transfer component (silicone oil or erucamide) is added into a polyolefin material to improve its hydrophobic properties. Results show that the silicone oil‐modified polyolefin material (polyolefin‐S) exhibited an obvious hydrophobicity transfer property. When the equivalent salt deposit density and nonsoluble deposit density are 0.1 and 0.5 mg/cm2, respectively, the static contact angle increases from 75° to 87° as the silicone oil transfer time increases from 24 to 96 hr. Meanwhile, polyolefin‐S exhibits high mechanical strength, hardness, volume resistivity, and surface resistivity values of 21.4 MPa, 62.6 HD, 1.7 × 1015 Ω m and 1.2 × 1016 Ω, respectively. Moreover, polyolefin‐S shows excellent tracking and erosion resistance of 4.5 kV level in the inclined plane test. The results verify that the polyolefin material is a promising candidate material for the hard shed of composite insulators.