Performance of Ethylene-Propylene Rubber Insulation in Medium and High Voltage Power Cable

A new class of EPR insulations having significantly improved electrical loss properties is described. These elastomeric insulations are compared in a number of key properties vs. XLPE which are believed significant in certain failure modes of power cables. Laboratory studies have shown that this new class of EPR´s is extremely resistant to the initiation and growth of water and electrical trees. Data from the AEIC Accelerated Water/Electrochemical Tree Test are presented for high molecular weight thermoplastic PE, XLPE and EPR. In this test EPR shows a significant improvement in performance vs. PE and XLPE which is particularly evident in the high temperature (high current load) test mode.