Development of the new polymer insulating materials for HVDC cable

The properties of modified HDPE, selected from various polymer materials by evaluations of DC characteristics, were examined in both sheet and cable samples. It was found that the modification, which introduced a small amount of polar group into HDPE, considerably enhanced DC breakdown strength to as high as 1.5-2.0 times those of XLPE (cross-linked polyethylene). Under a poling voltage of up to 30 kV/mm, the modified HDPE exhibits particular behavior, with its space charge decreasing as stress is increasing. In addition, the additives in HDPE have a large influence on space-charge characteristics, thereby affecting the DC breakdown strength. The evaluation of cable insulated with optimum modified HDPE was conducted to determine the breakdown strength under various voltage applications. Compared with the XLPE cable, modified HDPE cable exhibited excellent characteristics under all kinds of voltage applications, particularly DC dielectric breakdown strength, which was almost twice that of XLPE