Open AccessHighly insulating thermoplastic blends comprising a styrenic copolymer for direct‐current power cable insulation
Author(s) -
Ouyang Yingwei,
Pourrahimi Amir Masoud,
Östergren Ida,
Mellqvist Marcus,
Ånevall Jakob,
Soroudi Azadeh,
Lund Anja,
Xu Xiangdong,
Gkourmpis Thomas,
Hagstrand PerOla,
Müller Christian
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
high voltage
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.732
H-Index - 20
ISSN - 2397-7264
DOI - 10.1049/hve2.12177
Subject(s) - materials science , low density polyethylene , composite material , copolymer , thermoplastic , ternary operation , polypropylene , polyethylene , thermoplastic elastomer , polymer blend , electrical resistivity and conductivity , polymer , electrical engineering , computer science , programming language , engineering
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.