Accelerated aging of polymer high voltage insulator material under ultraviolet light and temperature

A model for the life of a high tension polymer insulator material was postulated to be dependent on the temperature (T), ultraviolet (U.V.) radiation (I), energy of activation (E), gas law constant (R) as: Life Ln
^(L)
=c + E−BI/RT, where c and B are constants. This model was derived by modifying the Arrhenius equation of reaction rates to r =A − E−BI/KT to take into account U.V. radiation. The validity of the model was verified by accelerating the failure of the insulator material under controlled degrading factors in an environmental chamber. The correlation between the experimental results and the postulated model is excellent. Such a model for life with parameters determined experimentally gives a means of estimating life of insulator material at ambient temperature and average U.V. radiation of sun.