Electrical surface tracking behaviour of XLPE containing untreated zinc oxide nano-filler

Abstract

XLPE has been widely used as an insulating material especially in high voltage underground cables due to an excellent dielectric, mechanical and thermal properties. One of the insulation failures of the power cable is due to poor cable jointing whereby it will cause the occurrence of electrical surface tracking. The frequent occurrence of electrical tracking activities on the surface of XLPE insulation will reduce the insulation strength and eventually breakdown occurs and damages the cable. Thus, in this paper, the electrical surface tracking behaviour in XLPE containing untreated ZnO nano-filler was investigated. The specimens were prepared with 1–4 wt% concentrations of untreated ZnO nano-filler in XLPE composite. The experiment was conducted according to the IEC 60587 standard. The result revealed that the XLPE containing 1–4 wt% ZnO nano-filler has poor electrical surface tracking profile.