Performance of Ethylene-Propylene Rubber Insulation in Medium and High Voltage Power Cable

A new class of EPR insulations having significantly improved electrical loss properties is described. These elastomeric insulations are compared in a number of key properties vs. XLPE which are believed significant in certain failure modes of power cables. Laboratory studies have shown that this new class of EPR's is extremely resistant to the initiation and growth of water and electrical trees. Data from the AEIC Accelerated Water/Electrochemical Tree Test are presented for high molecular weight thermoplastic PE, XLPE and EPR. In this test EPR shows a significant improvement in performance vs. PE and XLPE which is particularly evident in the high temperature (high current load) test mode.