Improvement on water tree resistance and electrical properties of XLPE by adopting triallyl isocyanurate

The effect of TAIC (triallyl isocyanurate) on water tree resistance and electrical properties of XLPE (peroxide crosslinked polyethylene) was investigated in this paper. XLPE specimens with different content of TAIC were prepared for hot pressing method. Water blade method results showed that water tree ageing resistance of XLPE was improved obviously by adopting TAIC. The diameters of microvoids in specimens generated by water droplets would be reduced from micron scale to submicron scale due to the existence of TAIC. Contact angle test and Monte Carlo molecular simulation results revealed that water droplets would be disintegrated due to the presence of TAIC. Moreover, the addition of TAIC can also slightly improve the electrical properties of XLPE. The first-principles calculations revealed that an electron-bound state was generated in the band gap of XLPE for bonding with TAIC and formed a deep trap with 2.3eV. It can be concluded that low mixing energy of TAIC and water is an important reason for improving the water tree resistance of XLPE, and its improvement on electrical properties is attributed to the introduction of deep trap.