| Abstract: | The long-term dielectric performance of underground power cable XLPE (cross-linked polyethylene) insulation suffers from poorly understood aging phenomena. A study of the morphological modifications of XLPE due to electrical aging may provide insight for a better understanding of aging mechanisms. The TEM technique has been used to study the XLPE morphology of unaged, laboratory-aged, and field-aged cable samples. A suitable image contrast enhancing and a stabilization of radiation damage were both successfully achieved by staining the sections with ruthenium tetroxide (RuO4), as individual XLPE lamellae were neatly and reproducibly resolved. Image analysis was used to help in the determination of any aging-induced morphological changes. XLPE samples from an unaged cable (D1) has been exposed to a low-energy electron beam, in an attempt to simulate certain conditions thought to occur in electric field-stressed dielectrics. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
