Surface properties of artificially contaminated polymeric cable terminations

Low voltage surface resistance measurement and Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) have been used to investigate the surface recovery properties of artificially contaminated polymeric cable terminations. Due to the basic functionality difference between cable terminations and insulators, it will be of practical interest to investigate the surface recovery properties of polymeric cable terminations under contaminated conditions. Results show that the surface resistance increases with increase in the recovery period and the sophisticated SPM surface analysis technique is useful in quantifying the surface roughness of the samples at various stages.