Effect of dicumyl peroxide on space charge accumulation characteristics of cross-linked polyethylene

The role of DCP on the space charge performance of XLPE was investigated in this paper. Space charge accumulation characteristics of samples were researched through pulsed electro-acoustic (PEA) and the trapping behavior was studied by surface potential decay (SPD). The results show that the sample without DCP is injected with homo-charges. However, with the increase of DCP concentration, hetero-charges are firstly found and then homo-charges can be found in the samples with higher concentration of DCP. Less space charge as well as more shallow traps can be found in the samples with 1wt% and 1.5wt% DCP. It is indicated that the change of the microstructure and the residues of crosslinking by-products may play a significant role in space charge accumulation and trap formation process in this research.