High Field Conduction And Breakdown Of Polyethylene - Oxidation Effects

Abstract

Polyethylene (PE) is one of the most important and widelystudied polymers because of its good electrical properties (high resistivity and low tan 6 ) and also because of its s imple chemical structure. Its electrical properties have been studied by many reserchers these tens years. Recently, much attention has been paid to the effects of oxidation on electrical properties of PE. Many papers have been published on the effects of oxidation o n high field conduction[l ,2], space charge[3,4], treeing breakdown[5,6] of PE. However, their details are not so well understood yet.