The Influence of Morphology on the Electric Strength of Polymer Insulation

This paper describes the effect of morphological structure on the electric strength and some physico-chemical properties of polymers with flexible chains (HDPE, LDPE, PP) and polymers with rigid chains (CA). It is shown that a polymer body has a discrete structure consisting of elements of different densities. The most regular structure with high density is characteristic of spherulites. Their size may be modified by different methods: heat treatment, plasticization, addition of nucleating agent, modification of molecular weight, etc. The inter-spherulitic boundary regions are shown to determine the electrical properties of the specimen as a whole. As the spherulite size decreases, the density of the polymer within the boundary regions increases, improving the electric strength.