Analysis of space charge formation in LDPE in the presence of crosslinking byproducts

Cross-linking byproducts are suspected to be the main contributing factor in space charge formation observed in XLPE. To investigate the mechanism behind this phenomenon, low density polyethylene was soaked into three main crosslinking byproducts, acetophenone, α-methylstyrene and cumyl alcohol, and space charge measurements were performed using the Pulse Electroacoustic technique (PEA). It has been found that soaking LDPE in cumyl alcohol introduces more charges into the system, with homocharges and heterocharges accumulating within the sample compared to the additive free sample. In contrast, α-methylstyrene and acetophenone reduce the amount of accumulated charges. In terms of charge decay, all three byproducts enhance the decay process in the insulator. Further investigations were conducted in conditions where two byproducts are present in a sample. The results shows that acetophenone is a dominant byproduct in determining the charge density patter built up during the charging process, whilst the rate of charge decay is observed to be high in the presence of α-methylstyrene in the sample.