The compatibility of cable termination structural materials with insulating fluids has an important impact on the safe and stable operation of cables. In this paper, the compatibility of cable termination materials with polyisobutylene is studied by analyzing the changes in morphology, swelling and mechanical properties of silicone rubber, ethylene-propylene insulating self-adhesive tape, and halogenated butyl + ethylene-propylene waterproof insulating tape before and after the compatibility test, as well as the changes in the physicochemical and dielectric properties of polyisobutylene before and after the compatibility test, and combined with the attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis with other means. The results show that the compatibility of the stress cone material silicone rubber with polyisobutylene is good, the compatibilities of ethylene-propylene insulating self-adhesive tape and halogenated butyl + ethylene-propylene waterproof insulating tape with polyisobutylene are not good, and the physicochemical and dielectric properties of the polyisobutylene impregnated insulating tape are also degraded after compatibility test.

To investigate the thermal ageing mechanism of dry air core reactor encapsulated insulating materials at the molecular level, this study conducted 336-hour accelerated thermal ageing tests on epoxy/glass fiber composites at 180℃. The evolutionary characteristics of functional groups, molecular chain segment motions, activation energies, and AC electric strength of the epoxy/glass fiber composites after ageing were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, dielectric spectroscopy, and AC electric strength test. The effect of the decrease in activation energy caused by the changes in chemical structure and the evolution of molecular chain segment movement properties during ageing on the AC electric strength was investigated. The results show that a lot of carbonyl groups and small molecular chains dominated by ester and ketone groups generate during the ageing process. These small molecule chains and polar groups greatly increase the free volume and the number of free electrons inside the epoxy matrix, so that the chain segment movement is gradually enhanced and the activation energy is reduced, which ultimately leads to a significant reduction in insulation capacity.

Using styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) as the resin matrix and SiO₂ as the filler, SiO₂/hydrocarbon high frequency hydrocarbon copper clad laminate with low dielectric loss were prepared by hot-pressing method using a double-roll open mill and a flat vulcanizing machine. The resin film forming method and the influence of different contents and morphologies of SiO₂ under the open mill film on the dielectric performance, peel strength, thermal conductivity, tensile performance, and water absorption rate of high frequency hydrocarbon copper clad laminate were explored. The results show that compared with the traditional solvent-based resin film method, the solvent-free film production using an open mill has obvious advantages in the molding of composite resins and material properties. With the increase of SiO₂ content, the dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the high frequency hydrocarbon copper clad laminate increase, while the peel strength and water absorption rate decrease. Under the same particle size and filling content of SiO₂, the dielectric constant, dielectric loss factor, and water absorption rate of spherical SiO₂/hydrocarbon high frequency hydrocarbon copper clad laminate are lower than those of angular SiO₂/hydrocarbon high frequency hydrocarbon copper clad laminate. When the mass fraction of spherical SiO₂ is 75%, the comprehensive performance of the carbon-hydrogen high-frequency board is relatively superior, with a dielectric constant lower than 3.3, a dielectric loss factor of 0.002 2, and a water absorption rate lower than 0.040%.

The temperature rise characteristics of gas-insulated transmission lines (GIL) determine their current-carrying capacity. To investigate the temperature rise characteristics of two typical environmental friendly insulating gases — perfluoroisobutyronitrile (C₄F₇N) mixed gas and dry air, the temperature rise process of a 126 kV three-phase common-tank GIL was simulated, and based on the simulation results, a temperature rise test platform was established. Then the temperature rise tests were carried out under conditions such as different gas dielectrics and current magnitudes. The results show that under the identical current conditions, the temperature rises of both C₄F₇N/CO₂ mixed gas and dry air under typical application parameters are similar, yet both exceed that of SF₆ gas. When the current loading is 3 150 A, both C₄F₇N/CO₂ mixed gas-filled and dry air-filled equipment can meet the requirement of temperature rise not exceeding 75 K, but when the current loading is 3 465 A, neither filling with C₄F₇N/CO₂ mixed gas nor filling with dry air can satisfy this requirement. It is also found that when the three gases were filled respectively, the temperature rise of phase B is higher than that of phase A and phase C, aligning with simulation results and thermal convection processes, indicating that the maximum temperature rise of phase B conductors requires special consideration in the temperature rise design of 126 kV three-phase common-tank GIL.

In order to suppress surface charge accumulation on the insulation in HVDC wall bushings and improve their flashover performance, the epoxy resins used for the supporting insulator and the tube body were surface fluorinated under the same conditions using a fluorine/nitrogen mixture. The results show that fluorine atoms are introduced into the surface layers of two types of epoxy resins by the substitution for hydrogen atoms and the addition to carbon-carbon double bonds, forming C-F bonds. The fluorination is accompanied by chain breaking, which mainly occurs at the crosslinking sites. Due to the difference in epoxy value, two types of epoxy resins show different crosslinking densities. SEM imaging shows that they have different thicknesses of the fluorinated layer and surface morphologies. Surface potential decay and surface conductivity measurements reveal that the fluorination increases surface conductivity of two types of epoxy resins and inhibits their surface charge accumulation to different degrees. Flashover tests show that their DC flashover voltages are significantly increased by the fluorination to almost the same degree.

To study the fiber characteristics of insulating wood pulp during the beating process and their impact on the properties of electrolytic capacitor separator, fibers with different beating degree were prepared using a Valley beater to prepare electrolytic capacitor separators, and their mechanical properties and electrical properties were tested. The results show that with the increase of beating time, the beating degree of the insulating wood pulp increase, leading to the decrease of fiber length and the increase of brooming degree. With the increase of beating degree, the surface pore structure of the prepared separators significantly decreases, while the density, tensile strength, and electric strength of the separators increase. In addition, with the increase of beating degree, the liquid absorption performance of the separators decreases, and the equivalent series resistance (ESR) per unit thickness increases.

Room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber (RTV-SiR) is an important polymer coating material for high voltage insulators. The ageing behavior of RTV-SiR under long-term exposure to environmental stimuli is an essential consideration for its field applications. In this study, composite coatings were prepared by incorporating nanometer-scale silicon dioxide (SiO₂) and aluminum trihydrate (ATH) into RTV-SiR. Then the composite coating samples were conducted accelerated ageing for 9 000 h, and their micro-morphology, hydrophobicity class (HC), leakage current, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), electrical strength, and mechanical strength were tested to investigate the ageing characteristics of SiO₂/ATH-filled RTV-SiR. The results show that the addition of SiO₂ and ATH fillers to RTV-SiR enhances the anti-degradation capability and environmental stress resistance of the composite coatings during ageing, preserving the samples' hydrophobicity. After ageing, compared with RTV-SiR, the composite samples exhibit a relatively smaller increase in leakage current and maintain higher electrical strength. According to FTIR analysis, the loss rates of several important absorption peak intensities of RTV-SiR are higher during ageing, and almost none of them can be restored, whereas those of the samples filled with SiO₂/ATH demonstrate a loss-recovery characteristics. Additionally, compared with RTV-SiR, the SiO₂/ATH-filled samples exhibit significantly lower reductions in tensile strength, elongation at break, and hardness after ageing treatment, indicating superior ageing resistance.

To solve the ageing problem of transformer insulation oil after the long-term operation, three composite materials, including glucose attapulgite (GLU-APT), starch attapulgite (AL-APT), and polydopamine attapulgite (PDA-APT), were designed and prepared. The structures of the composite materials were characterized by X-ray diffractor, field emission scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectrometer, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, and N₂ adsorption-desorption test. The results show that the decolorization and acid value reduction effects of the three composite materials on retired oil improves significantly compared to APT, among which the GLU-APT shows the best regeneration effect to retired oil. When the mass ratio of GLU-APT adsorbent and retired transformer oil is 1:2, the adsorption time is 2 h, and the adsorption temperature is 90℃, the decolorization rate of regenerated oil can reach 88.2%, and the acid value is reduced to 0.010 mgKOH/g, the adsorption efficiency can maintain 90% after 5 cycles of regeneration.

The invasion of moisture at the insulation interface of cable accessories is the main cause of electrical breakdown and insulation failure. However, the effect mechanism of moisture on interface discharge and breakdown remained unclear. Therefore, this paper conducted experiments and simulations to analyze and study the causes of breakdown failure at the insulation interface of cable accessories under the influence of moisture. First, the discharge evolution characteristics during the breakdown process at dry and humid interfaces were described through experiments. Subsequently, by combining discharge products with electric field analysis, the effect mechanism of moisture on the breakdown development at the interface was explained. Finally, a field case was presented to confirm the validity of the proposed breakdown mechanism of the insulation interface under the influence of moisture. The results show that the discharge process during the interface breakdown of insulation interface develops in stages, accompanied by gas generation. The bubbles regions formed by the generated gases lead to severe electric field distortion, which reduces the electric strength of the interface. The dynamic motion of the bubbles also increases the randomness of interfacial discharge, causing the interfacial breakdown process to be accompanied by multiple discrete arc discharges along random path.

To investigate the application of anodization technology on improving the interface performance between epoxy resin and aluminum electrodes, aluminum alloys were electrolyzed for different durations to form anodized films on the substrate surface. The morphology, composition, structure, and electrical properties of the anodized films were characterized, and the effects of anodic oxide films on the adhesion and dielectric properties of the epoxy-aluminum interface were analyzed. The results show that after anodic oxidation, an amorphous anodized film with a nanoporous structure is formed. As the electrolysis time increases, the thickness of the anodized film increases linearly, while the internal defects also increase, which reduces the volume resistivity and electric strength. The film exhibits a high dielectric constant and dielectric loss factor, which remain stable at 25℃-125℃. Benefiting from the nanoporous structure and polar bonds, the adhesive shear strength between the aluminum substrate and epoxy resin increases from 6.76 MPa to 10.89 MPa, and the adhesive tensile strength increases from 6.89 MPa to 9.78 MPa after anodic oxidation. The impact toughness increases from 66.21 kJ/m² to 76.42 kJ/m², and the flexural strength increases from 147.65 MPa to 180.50 MPa. The anodized film improves the electric strength of the aluminum-epoxy composite, and the interface polarization makes the dielectric constant and dielectric loss factor of the aluminum-anodized film-epoxy composite structure slightly higher than those of the aluminum-epoxy structure. In HVDC electric fields, space charges mainly accumulate at the interface between the electrode and the dielectric, and the anodized film can inhibit the injection of charges into the dielectric. Therefore, as an effective interface modification method, anodic oxidation can enhance the mechanical and electrical properties of aluminum electrodes and epoxy resin.