Influence of UV Radiation on HTV Silicon Rubber Performance

High temperature vulcanization(HTV) silicone rubber has been used as the outer insulation material of composite insulators because of its outstanding hydrophobicity,hydrophobicity transfer property and hydrophobicity recovery properties.However,compared with inorganic material,HTV silicon rubber is easier to be aged by environment factors.Consequently,UV accelerated aging HTV silicon rubber was tested by xenon lamp radiation.The static contact angle method was used to measure and evaluate the hydrophobicity of HTV silicone rubber.Besides,the measurement of the hardness and scanning electron microscopy(SEM) test are also used.SEM image is analyzed by image-pro plus 6.0 software.Test result shows that,after a short period of exposure to xenon lamp,the hydrophobicity of HTV silicone rubber surface has little change.HTV silicone rubber is much harder and rougher.The surface became rugged,and the filler has the trend of exposure.As the irradiation time increases,the number of particle separated out gradually increases,and particle size and total area become larger.