Abstract
This paper examines the influence of the elastic modulus of the polymer insulation on the tangential AC breakdown strength (BDS) of polymer interfaces theoretically and experimentally. In the experiments, four different materials with different elastic moduli, namely crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE), cured end product of epoxy resin (EPOXY), polyether ether ketone (PEEK) and silicone rubber (SiR) were employed under various contact pressures. The BDS of each interface increased as the contact pressure was augmented. As the contact pressure became threefold, the interfacial BDS rose by a factor of 2.4, 1.7, 1.8, and 1.4 in the case of the PEEK, EPOXY, XLPE and SiR interface, in a sequence following the decrease of the elastic modulus. Under the same contact pressure, it was observed that the lower the elastic modulus, the higher the BDS. The employed contact theory also suggested a decreasing BDS as the modulus was augmented; however, the experimental results tended to deviate widely from the estimated results as the pressure was significantly increased.
Highlights
Subsea cable connectors are vital components of oil and gas installations, future offshore wind and wave energy systems
Materials and production technologies for subsea applications have gained a fair amount of experience over the years, cable connectors and joints where solid-solid interfaces emerge are still considered the weaker parts of complete cable systems [1,2,3]
From the minimum contact pressure to the maximum, the interfacial breakdown strength (BDS) rose by a factor of 1.4 − 2.4 following the decrease of the elastic modulus among the chosen materials
Summary
Subsea cable connectors are vital components of oil and gas installations, future offshore wind and wave energy systems. One of the main reasons of a solid-solid interface being weaker than its intrinsic material is that an interface contains microscopic imperfections such as cavities (see Fig. 1), protrusions, and contaminants. Even in cases when the magnitude of the longitudinal electric field is much lower than the dielectric strength of the intrinsic insulation, the imperfections at the interface cause local electric field enhancements. They are, likely to initiate partial discharges (PD), electrical treeing, and a complete flashover might eventually follow [1,2,3]
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