Laboratory study on hydrophobicity and pollution flashover properties of polymer insulators

A laboratory method to simulate the different hydrophobicity status of contaminated or aged polymer insulators is presented in the paper. It is found that kieselguhr, used as the non-soluble contaminant in the simulation, is more suitable and convenient than kaolin. Based on the method, the influence of hydrophobicity on pollution resistance properties is investigated. A remarkable difference between the artificial pollution test outcome of hydrophobicity of un-recovered polymer insulators and that of ceramic ones is found. Furthermore, the applicability of static contact angle and hydrophobicity class (HC) is discussed.