Electrical treeing as a mechanically driven phenomenon

Over the past few years a body of experimental evidence has accumulated which supports the hypothesis that the mechanical characteristics of an insulating material strongly influence electrical degradation mechanisms. Research has concentrated on the phenomenon of electrical treeing. This paper describes simple experiments in which the mechanical strength of electrical insulation was directly affected by plasticisation, followed by investigations of the influence of internal barriers and particulate fillers, and arriving at a proposed pre-stressed material (akin to pre-stressed concrete) which takes advantage of the results of this work in developing a mechanically and electrically enhanced insulating system.