Preparation of High Insulating HDPE Optical Cable Sheath at Lower Cost with Doping Nano-Particles

Abstract

To reduce the cost of HDPE optical cable sheath, we selected HDPE as matrix materials, inorganic nanometer particles (CaCO3, SiO2) as modifier, prepared the modified HDPE optical cable sheath by mechanical blending method. The combination of CaCO3 particles with HDPE matrix was improved by titanate doped, which was able to facilitate the homogeneous dispersion of CaCO3 particles inside HDPE. To modify the optical cable sheath and reduce the product cost, the disparity of the inorganic nano-particle was analyzed, and the ratio of raw material and mixing technology were also improved. The experimental results indicated that: the sheathing compound with insulating characteristic as well as all technical indexes that reached its national standard, especially the toughening effect of the CaCO3, could be produced when CaCO3 content reached 7.5% and the volume resistivity was 104 times higher than the national standard. The mechanical modification of CaCO3 was better than SiO2.