Effects of new photoinitiator on dielectric properties of UV-irradiation XLPE

Recent years the application of ultraviolet-irradiation crosslinked polyethylene (UV-irradiation XLPE) cable for low voltage has become increasingly mature, but for high voltage is still in the research stage. The dielectric properties of high voltage UV-irradiation XLPE with new type macromolecule photoinitiator and polyfunctional crosslinker were studied in this paper. The influence of irradiation time for the gel content of UV-irradiation XLPE films at a temperature of 293K were researched by experiment of solvent extraction. The experimental result indicates that the best irradiation time of UV-irradiation XLPE film are 4 min, and the biggest gel content of this XLPE insulation material can reach about 90%. And in the end, the dielectric properties of this XLPE material, such as permittivity, dielectric loss tangent, conduction current and electric breakdown strength were measured by some experimental facilities. These test results of electrical aging thresholds and breakdown strength were 18.1kV/mm and 132.5kV/mm, separately. The research in this paper shows that the dielectric properties of UV-irradiation XLPE can be improved when the new type macromolecule photoinitiator and polyfunctional crosslinker weight percentage were 2wt% and 1wt%, respectively.