Hydrophobic behavior of insulators coated with RTV silicone rubber

Author

Kim, Seog-Hyeon ; Cherney, Edward A. ; Hackam, Reuben

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Windsor Univ., Ont., Canada

fYear

1991

fDate

8-12 Jul 1991

Firstpage

972

Abstract

Room temperature vulcanized (RTV) silicone rubber coatings are applied to electrical insulators to improve their subsequent insulation strength, particularly under wet conditions. Under prolonged wetting the hydrophobicity of the coating is reduced temporarily and the insulator protection is lost. After a dry period, a recovery of the hydrophobicity takes place. To investigate this phenomenon, the surface was subjected to various wetting conditions. Measurements of the contact and the sliding angles were used to determine the state of the surface. The surface free energy of the RTV was calculated as a function of time of exposure of the surface to salt fog

Keywords

contact angle; environmental testing; insulating coatings; insulation testing; insulators; protective coatings; rubber; silicones; surface energy; vulcanisation; wetting; RTV silicone rubber; contact angle; hydrophobicity; insulation strength; insulators; prolonged wetting; room temperature vulcanization; salt fog; silicone rubber coatings; sliding angles; surface free energy; wet conditions; Bonding forces; Chemicals; Hydrogen; Insulation; Rough surfaces; Rubber; Solids; Surface contamination; Surface roughness; Surface tension;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Properties and Applications of Dielectric Materials, 1991., Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on

Conference_Location

Tokyo

Print_ISBN

0-87942-568-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICPADM.1991.172235

Filename

172235