Effect of Crystalline Morphology on Electrical Tree Growth Characteristics of High-Density and Low-Density Polyethylene Blend Insulation

The electrical tree initiation and propagation behaviors are a key issue for the polyethylene-based cable insulation. This paper focuses on the effect of crystalline morphology on electrical tree growth characteristics of high-density and low-density polyethylene (HDPE/LDPE) blend insulation. In this paper, the electrical tree growth characteristics of HDPE/LDPE blends with HDPE mass fractions of 0, 10, 15, 20 wt% are investigated under repetitive impulse voltage at 40, 60, 80 °C. It is found that with the rise of HDPE content from 0 to 15 wt%, the growth rate and accumulated damage of electrical tree decreases, with the morphology of electrical tree tending to bush tree. The increasing of voltage amplitude improves the energy of injected charge while the temperature rise leads to the relaxation of molecular chain, which both result in the promotion of collision ionization, thus increasing the density of electrical tree. Compared with branch tree, bush tree illustrates better inhibition of discharge tracks due to uniform electric field at the end of branches. The crystalline characteristics of HDPE/LDPE blends indicate that the crystallinity increases with the addition of HDPE, and the blend comprising 15 wt% HDPE in an LDPE matrix apparently reduces the average size of spherulites and improves the distribution of spherulites evenly. The upsurge of crystal-amorphous interface leads to the increase of deep trap energy level density and the decrease of carrier mobility. Carrier injection and migration at the interface between crystalline and amorphous regions are restrained, thus inhibiting the growth of electrical tree. It is concluded that the crystalline morphology modified by polymer blending has a significant effect on the electrical tree growth characteristics.