Evaluation of insulation performance of polymeric surface using a novel separation technique of leakage current

This paper describes a novel method to separate the leakage current, obtained in polymeric materials during a salt fog aging test, into three components of conductive current, corona discharge current and dry band arc discharge current. First, we investigated that the relationship between optical emissions due to discharges and a leakage current. Based on experimentally defined discharge types, the separation of the leakage current was carried out. Finally, the polymer surface was analyzed using an electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA), and the change in the polymeric constituents was evaluated. The results showed that the cumulative charges due to the dry band arc discharge and the corona discharge to the total charge were about 20 and 10%, respectively. It was also found that a high temperature vulcanized (HTV) silicone rubber could retain its insulation performance better than a room temperature vulcanized (RTV).