Highly insulating thermoplastic blends comprising a styrenic copolymer for direct-current power cable insulation
Journal article, 2022

The impact of the composition of blends comprising low-density polyethylene (LDPE), isotactic polypropylene (PP) and a styrenic copolymer additive on the thermomechanical properties as well as the direct-current (DC) electrical and thermal conductivity is investigated. The presence of 5 weight percent (wt%) of the styrenic copolymer strongly reduces the amount of PP that is needed to enhance the storage modulus above the melting temperature of LDPE from 40 to 24 wt%. At the same time, the copolymer improves the consistency of the thermomechanical properties of the resulting ternary blends. While both the DC electrical and thermal conductivity strongly decrease with PP content, the addition of the styrenic copolymer appears to have little influence on either property. Evidently, PP in combination with small amounts of a styrenic copolymer not only allows to reinforce LDPE at elevated temperatures but also functions as an electrical conductivity-reducing additive, which makes such thermoplastic ternary formulations possible candidates for the insulation of high-voltage power cables.

Author

Yingwei Ouyang

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

Amir Masoud Pourrahimi

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

Ida Östergren

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

Marcus Mellqvist

Student at Chalmers

Jakob Ånevall

Student at Chalmers

Azadeh Soroudi

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

Anja Lund

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

Xiangdong Xu

Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Electric Power Engineering

Thomas Gkourmpis

Borealis GmbH

Per Ola Hagstrand

Borealis GmbH

Christian Müller

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

High Voltage

23977264 (eISSN)

Vol. 7 2 251-259

Subject Categories

Polymer Chemistry

Bio Materials

Polymer Technologies

Infrastructure

Chalmers Materials Analysis Laboratory

DOI

10.1049/hve2.12177

More information

Latest update

10/9/2023