Importance of hydrophobicity and related tests in the electrical insulation industry

In the power transmission and distribution industry, ceramic and porcelain insulators are being replaced by silicone insulators. Unlike other composite insulating materials used in the past decades, these silicone insulators are able to maintain their hydrophobicity properties even in severe pollution conditions. Because environmental pollution conditions are unpredictable during operation, the performance of the hydrophobicity dynamics of these electrical insulators is important. This dynamic performance of silicone insulators is also known as the hydrophobicity transfer mechanism. These silicone materials, in addition to transmitting hydrophobicity, also have the ability to recover hydrophobicity. The hydrophobicity transfer and recovery mechanism of silicone materials is related to the reorientation of methyl groups and the presence of low molecular weight components, which are investigated in this paper.