A Study on the Ultraviolet Aging characteristics of Outdoor Polymeric Insulating Materials

옥외용 고분자 절연재료의 자외선 열화특성 연구

The outdoor polymeric insulating materials such as silicone rubber, ethylene propylene diene monomer(EPDM), ethylene vinyl acetate(EVA) and epoxy are aged by various natural environment with the long-term performance in outdoor. In this paper, the effects of UV-ray on surface of silicone rubber were investigated by using the weather-Ometer. The accelerated aging stresses were simulated by UV radiation. high temperature and humidity as well as water spray. These the aging characteristics were examined through contact angle measurements, tracking resistance test, FT-IR and SEM/EDS analysis. the experimental results showed that tracking resistance decreases with increase in the UV-ray irradiation period. But the surface of silicone rubber kept hydrophobicity. It is found that the inorganic filler such as $Al(OH)_3$ improves tracking resistance and the $TiO_2$ is very effective in preventing degradation of silicone rubber surface from UV-ray.