Abstract: | This paper describes an application of ESCA analysis to semiconducting materials in XLPE power cables in terms of the oxygen ratio (integrated intensity of oxygen spectrum/integrated intensity of carbon spectrum). Analyzed materials were carbon black, an additive mixed into semiconducting materials, and several semiconducting materials treated in various cross‐linking conditions. It was found that the additive increases the oxygen ratio of semiconducting materials as well as does the cross‐linking treatment. The higher the oxygen ratio of the semiconducting materials, the smaller is the average lamellar angle in the XLPE insulation at the semiconducting interface. The angle is thought to be a parameter which expresses the hyperstructure of polymer insulation and smaller angles correspond to a better state of the semiconducting interface in XLPE power cables. © 1998 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 126(2): 15–22, 1999 |