Abstract
The suspension insulators are subjected to harsh environments in service for a long time. The long-term reliability of tile insulators is required for both mechanical and electrical performances. This study describes some basic performance tests and accelerated aging test by cool-heat cycling methods and thermal mechanical performance test methods on alumina porcelain insulators (new and aged) used for transmission line in KOREA. There was no fail in electrical and mechanical performance tests such as a high voltage strength, a flashover voltage, and an impact strength in all samples. But in the case of accelerating aging tests which have above 9$0^{\circ}C$ temperature gradient, fracture phenomena was happened by a thermal shock in tile aged sample(sample A) with low alumina porcelain body. It was indicated that sample A was more severely aged than other samples. According to results of HRB test and microstructural analysis, it was reasoned that insulator bodies with the matrix reinforced with alumina crystalline phase have advantages over the suppression of crack advance. And cool-heat aging and mechanical thermal ageing tests shows that a temperature gradient is more effective to accelerating than a cycling number.
