The mechanism of electrical treeing propagation in polypropylene

Abstract

Growth property of electrical treeing is an important parameter to evaluate the insulation performance of a polymer. The complex non-uniform state of aggregation structure determines the electrical treeing growth in polypropylene (PP), a typical semi-crystalline polymer. In this paper, the electric treeing resistance property experiments for PP as well as the PP sample with nucleating agents are carried out. Effects of crystal shape, crystallinity, and crystalline structure on the electrical treeing growth characteristics in PP and PP with nucleating agents have been analyzed using polarized light microscopy (PLM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Thermodynamic and dynamic mechanisms of electrical treeing propagation are represented respectively by the thermodynamically driven action of phase interfacial free energy and the discharge-avalanche theory, demonstrating the essential role of electric field distribution in electrical treeing growth. According to physical properties of crystalline phase and amorphous phase in semi-crystalline materials, a computational model of interior electric field distribution has been established to simulate local electric field distribution in the polymer material under needle-plate electrode configuration, and used to analyze the characteristics of electrical treeing channel growing along the grain boundary in semi-crystalline materials. Inhibition effects of crystalline structure changed due to the nucleating agents on electrical treeing growth along the electric field direction are investigated.