Dielectric strength and Volume Resistivity Characteristics of EPR/PVC blends for High Voltage Insulators under Different Environment Conditions

In this paper, a new five blends samples containing two different polymeric material Ethylene Propylene Rubber (EPR) and Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) with different concentration is prepared. The electrical properties of the blends such as dielectric strength and volume are tested. All experiments are performed under three different conditions under dry, wet, and acidic environment conditions at atmospheric temperature. They are performed ten times on every sample of the five samples and the average is taken to minimize the error for ensuring the results and reach the optimum blend sample with the optimum electrical property. The dielectric strength test has been done in High Voltage Laboratory using single-phase
autotransformer. The volume resistivity is measured using Disc electrodes and an electrical tester. The results show improvement for the dielectric strength with increasing the PVC content in the blends samples. Both wet and acidic condition have a negative effect on the dielectric strength resulting reduction in the dielectric strength value.