Interfacial improvement of XLPE cable insulation at reduced thickness

An interfacial diffusion method was devised to reduce insulation thickness by improving the interfacial properties of XLPE cable insulation. This method is based on a proposed concept of the facilitation of oriented lamellar growth at the interface by addition of special ingredients to the semiconducting layer, which would diffuse into polyethylene in the three layer simultaneous extrusion process for cable manufacture. Diffusion of the ingredients would facilitate lamellae to grow perpendicularly to the semiconducting layers, as predicted theoretically from a free energy model. It was clarified experimentally that oriented lamellar growth would increase the breakdown strength of XLPE insulation. It is suggested the XLPE cables manufactured by this method could be reduced in thickness especially for extra-high voltage, or the cable could be upgraded from 65 to 154 kV as the insulation thickness remains 9 mm.