Electrical properties of chemically modified polyethylenes

This report describes electrical properties such as space charge distribution, water treeing characteristics and ac breakdown strength in PE (polyethylene) modified by grafting and blending techniques. A control PE shows heterocharge. In AA (acrylic acid)-grafted PE (LDPE-g-AA), the heterocharge observed in PE decreases at low AA contents and homocharge is observed at high AA contents. In NBA (n-butyl acrylate)-grafted PE (LDPE-g-NBA), on the other hand, this heterocharge gets larger at all graft ratios to 0.12%. However, these components decrease the water tree length measured under specific conditions and increase ac breakdown strength. Details of the results are described and their origins are discussed. The results obtained with the LDPE-g-NBA are compared with those of PE/ethylene NBA copolymer blends.