Relation of hydrophobicity of silicone rubber insulation under various contaminant conditions

Hydrophobicity plays an important part in the tracking resistance and surface discharge characteristic of insulator. Outdoor polymer insulator in service may suffer from numerous rainfalls, so that it is necessary to establish their performance in various rainwater conditions. The accelerated aging of high temperature vulcanized silicone rubber (HTVSR) insulator under various types of artificial rainwater contaminants is conducted in this paper. The hydrophobicity of insulator before and after aging is investigated. Experimental results reported here show that the ion concentration, acidity and conductivity of actual precipitation are insufficient to exert significant erosion on silicone rubber. Silicone rubber insulation can resist the erosion of even the most severe actual rainwater and the hydrophobicity did not degraded