Correlation of damage, dry band arcing energy, and temperature in inclined plane testing of silicone rubber for outdoor insulation

Silicone rubber samples, filled with 30% alumina trihydrate, subjected to the ASTM inclined plane test, show good correlation between the measured harmonic power components of dry band arcing and the surface temperature recorded with a thermovision camera. The simultaneous study of the low frequency fast Fourier transform and variations in temperature shows that when the temperature rises above 100/spl deg/C there is a well defined increase in the low frequency harmonic components of the measured power; however, this trend is not verified by the fundamental component. The eroded mass of the samples is measured independently by a laser approach and a model to rank the tested samples using the inclined plane test is developed. The model is validated by applying it to both the recorded harmonic power components and temperature, resulting in the correct ranking of damage on the samples tested in the inclined plane test.