Electrical properties of silane crosslinked polyethylene in comparison with DCP crosslinked polyethylene

The electrical properties such as water tree length, electrical conduction, ac breakdown strength and space charge of silane crosslinked polyethylene (SXLPE) were investigated, with a purpose to compare this material with ordinary dicumyl peroxide (DCP) crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE). Experimental results show that SXLPE has a smaller water tree length, much lower conduction current density, a little bit higher ac breakdown strength than XLPE, and on SXLPE only a very small homocharge is seen. The better behaviour of SXLPE under electric stress is attributed to the absence of residual curing byproducts present in XLPE and the change of chemical structure by grafting and curing reactions.