Research on the Influence of Consistent Arc on performance of Composite Insulators in Areas of high temperature and high humidity

The southern China is located in high-temperature and high-humidity areas with long and high rainfall. Affected by the sea breeze, the salt on the surface of Composite insulators in the area is higher than others. If the insulator is damaged and exposed to continuous rain, there may be a consistent arc on the surface of the insulator due to electric field distortion caused by insulator’s damage. To explore the effect of continuous arc on the properties of silicone rubber materials operating on natural environment, we chose four groups of the silicon rubber samples with different contents of ATH and silica and coat them with kaolin in order to simulate natural pollution. Insulators were placed in the tracking test apparatus, the voltage of 2.5 kV, 3.5 kV, 4.5 kV, 6 kV and the corresponding current velocity were applied to simulate the actual aging process according to the relevant passage. Transverse relaxation time and residual mass were measured respectively, also hardness, lightness and static contact angle of the samples were carried out after the test. The result shows that transverse relaxation time and residual mass of silicone rubber decreased with the increase of accelerated aging time. If the residual mass decreases to a certain value, the silicone rubber material sample cannot continue to run while discharge is concentrated in a certain area on the surface of silicone rubber. After the aging process, lightness and static contact of the sample decreased, and hardness changed little. At the same time, it can find that the higher the relative content of ATH and silica, the better the performance of silicone rubber under the action of continuous arc when the rubber content reaches a certain proportion by comparing the properties of silicone rubber with different component.