Differences in morphology and polarization properties of heat-treated XLPE and LDPE insulation

Cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) is the most commonly used insulating material for extruded high voltage cable applications. Degassing is a heat-treatment process that is performed to remove methane from XLPE insulation which is formed during the crosslinking reactions as a by-product. Apart from removing methane, heat-treatment influences the electrical properties through changing the morphology due to annealing and also removal of polar crosslinking by-products. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is generally used to observe the changes in crystalline structure of the polymer. Frequency domain spectroscopy (FDS) is widely used to study polarization properties of dielectric materials. In this study these two methods are used for a comparative analysis of XLPE and LDPE subjected to different heat-treatment time, with or without a diffusion barrier. Electrical measurements are performed at room temperature. From the SEM imaging conducted after permanganate acid etching, formation of spherulites due to heat-treatment is not obvious in neither LDPE nor in XLPE. However, distinctions between LDPE and XLPE in SEM micrographs are evident. From studies with dielectric polarization spectroscopy, it is found that the LDPE samples are less sensitive to heat-treatment in comparison to the XLPE samples while dissipation factor of XLPE samples are influenced by the choice of pressing film used during sample preparation.