Tracking and Erosion Resistance of Artificially Aged Silicone Rubber Samples

Abstract

In this paper, experimental investigations are carried out on aged silicone-rubber based polymeric samples. The silicone rubber test specimens are degraded under cyclic application of multiple environmental stresses (thermal, UV, and humidity) for a duration of thousand hours. The samples are evaluated for tracking and erosion resistance as per IEC 60587. The studies are carried out for AC and DC voltages. During the experiments, leakage current is monitored at regular interval of time and waveforms are captured using digital storage oscilloscope and Data acquisition is performed. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and standard deviation-multi resolution (STDmRA) analysis using Wavelet Transform is attempted on the leakage current waveforms. The dominated presence of third harmonics is observed causing the thermal degradation and material erosion leading to formation of tracking and erosion resistance.