Effect of ATH fillers on the surface tracking and erosion resistance of natural rubber-LLDPE blends

Abstract

Polymeric insulators are increasingly being accepted by the electric utilities worldwide. The tremendous growth in the application 0/ polymeric insulators is due to their substannal advantages compared /0 porcelain and glass insulators. This paper describes the investigation 0/ electrical surface tracking and erosion behavior on the new formulated thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) with different level of alumina trihydrate (ATH) contents. The natural rubber blends with lineal' low-density polyethylene (UDPE) at dijferenr weight ratio ore used as base polymer 0/the TPE materials. Experimental results show that the blends filled with different level 0/ ATH are significantly injl lJences the sur/ace tracking properties. 14THcontent with 50 pph is found to be practically improved the surface tracking and erasion resistance a/the compounds. Scan ning dearon microscope is carried out 10 relate the surface tracking properties with lhe morphological analysis.