Contaminant properties of silicone rubber insulator in the accelerating aging of acid rain

Acid rain is one of the more serious environmental contaminants with a larger social effects. In this paper, the influence of acid rain on the contaminant performances of silicone rubber insulator is investigated by the accelerating aging in fog chamber. Test results show that the surface of silicone rubber insulator suffers a attack and degradation from acid rain, so that the surface hydrophobicity decreases, and the discharge current increases. The degraded contaminant performances are restored to some extent in the dry condition, the reason being that the low molecular weight (LMW) polymeric liquid in bulk diffuses or migrates to the surface to make up the degraded surface and to provide a hydrophobic layer