Effect of electric field on contact angle and droplet shape in XLPE dielectric materials

Abstract

XLPE dielectric materials have an important place in electricity transmission and distribution. The aging of XLPE dielectric materials during the service period is inevitable. The surface properties of XLPE dielectric materials play an active role in the determination and evaluation of their service life. Properties such as hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity are the methods used in the analysis of the surface properties of materials. Within the scope of this project, contact angle measurements were carried out under the electric field for evaluation and determination on the wettability behavior of the XLPE material, which plays an important role in electrical insulation, which is widely used in electrical energy transmission and distribution. In the contact angle measurement platform manufactured using the 3D printer, XLPE insulator was placed between the aluminum plane electrodes and exposed to an electric field. A high voltage source of 0-10kV was used as a high voltage generator during the experiments. Snapshots of the 1.8M saltwater droplet dropped on the XLPE insulator surface under the electric field were taken. In the image processing part of the study, images taken with a digital microscope were processed using the image processing techniques with the help of a graphical user interface (GUI) prepared on the MATLAB platform. Contact angle values were obtained as output. Contact angles obtained from XLPE surfaces under the electric field will allow an evaluation of the service life of XLPE dielectric materials. An approach based on the contact angle for evaluation and determination of the wettability of XLPE dielectric materials is presented. As a result, the correlation between the electric field, wettability, and contact angle was observed.