The 19th International Symposium on High Voltage Engineering, Pilsen, Czech Republic, August, 23 – 28, 2015

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES INVESTIGATION OF THE COMPOSITE

INSULATORS IN SERVICE
1 1 1 1 2 1
Jianguo Wang *, Zhaoguo Wu , Jing Xiao , Kang Wang , Chunhua Fang , Xianqiang Li ,
1
Yadong Fan
1
* Member IEEE, School of Electrical Engineering Wuhan University, China
2
College of Electrical Engineering﹠New energy, Three Gorges University, China
*Email: <wjg@whu.edu.cn>

Abstract: This paper reports the mechanical properties of 76 composite insulators of early
stage that are in service for Guangdong power grid and Northeast power grid. Combining
the test results, breaking forms and mechanical strength of the composite insulators with
three link fittings were explained, and the mechanical properties were evaluated. There
are different degrees of cracks in the core surface. The main destruction forms are
different for the ends link forms of the fittings are different. The main destruction forms of
inner wedge type are the ball head break, the core break and the core damage, and the
proportion is 44%, 44% and 12%, respectively. For the outer wedge type, the main
destruction forms are the core break, the ball head break, the core pulled off and the core
damage, and the proportion is 45%, 27.5%, 25% and 2.5%, respectively. The core pulled
off is the only destruction form of the sampling composite insulators. The mechanical
strength of the inner wedge type insulator has a larger margin than the outer wedge type,
and the dispersion is smaller.

1 INTRODUCTION bond strength between the core and the fittings.

The composite insulator has been used broadly
both at home and abroad for its advantage
including light-weight, high-mechanical-strength,
strong-hydrophobic, high flashover, short
production lead-time and easy to maintain [1-2].
There are reports about the flashover and damage
of composite insulators in many areas after running
for some time. The failure phenomenon includes
the aging of the outside sheds, mechanical strength
decreasing, interface breakdown and core
becoming broken [3].
There are many early stage composite insulators
are in service for the grid. The running life of the
composite insulators is mostly around 10 years.
How to make sure there is potential safety hazard
or not and put up with effective method to test them
is a problem that must be figured out as soon as
possible.
In this paper, we check the fittings link forms at the
ends of the composite insulators which are from
Guangdong area and Northeast area in total of 76
of early stage. Combined with the mechanical
properties test, the mechanical strength and
fracture mode of different fittings link forms are
studied and evaluated.
2 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF CORE
AND FITTINGS LINK FORMS AT THE END
2.1 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF CORE
The mechanical strength of composite insulators
includes the mechanical strength of core and the
The mechanical strength of the core depends
primarily on the material and the core diameter.
The core material in the production and operation
processes is subject to different degrees of
damage. What’s more, it has creep phenomenon,
and its mechanical properties will decline in the
long course of service.
The core is mainly composed of glass fiber and
epoxy, and the glass fiber accounts for 60%~80%.
There are differences between the fibers within the
core. For some reason, the core fiber where the
stress concentrates under load would break for the
stress on the fiber is not the same. And then the
load transfers to other parts of unbroken, a new
stress concentration part is formed. The fiber
appears varying degrees of damage under this
cycle, and the mechanical strength of the core
declines. The creep characteristic is very important
to the mechanical property of composite insulators.
There is a liner relationship between the
mechanical strength of the composite insulators
running in long time and the logarithm of time.
IEC61109 [4] specifies the slope of creep curve of
static mechanical strength should not be greater
than -8 % Mav/ time on a logarithmic scale.
Based on JB5892 [5] standard, we tested the
permeability, water absorption and water diffusion
properties of the core. The results showed that the
core materials of the sampling composite insulators
all meet the standard, but visible defects can be
found from the core appearance. As showed in
Figure 1, these defects will increase the chance of
partial discharge and other hazards during the long
time service.

Figure 1: Typical defaults of the core
2.2 FITTING LINK FORMS AT THE END OF
COMPOSITE INSULATORS
The combine place of core and fittings is the most
vulnerable area of composite insulators. Three
materials combining make complex interface and
mechanical structure, and the end portion of the
core will be exposed to a non-uniform stress here.
As showed in Figure 2, the link structures of fittings
and core mainly include wedge type and crimp type.
The early composite insulators are all used the
wedge type structure that successfully solved the
connect problem between both ends of core and
the towers and wires. The wedge type uses the
fitting cavity with self-locking coordinating with the
core or wedge to achieve the connection of the
core and fittings. The mechanical strength of the
wedge type structure can meet the composite
insulators standards.
(a) Inner wedge (b) Outer wedge (c) Crimp
Figure 2: Section and end structure of different
kinds of fittings link forms
3 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES TEST OF
SAMPLING COMPOSITE INSULATORS
37 110kV/100kN composite insulators from
Guangdong power grid are the early products of
company A with wedge type structure, and the
longest running life is about 10 years.
29 composite insulators from northeast power grid
include 4 types which are 11 66kV/70kN, 7
66kV/100kN, 7 220kV/100kN and 4 220kV/160kN.
The 29 samples are all the early products of
company B using the inner wedge type or the outer
wedge type, and the running life is between 6 and
15 years. 10 samples which are the products of
company C include 2 110kV/70kN, 4 110kV/100kN,
2 220kV/100kN and 2 500kV/160kN. The samples
use the crimp type and the running life is between 1
and 4 years.
Based on IEC61109:1992, high pressure press of
composite insulators is used to apply tensile load at
both ends of the insulator metal accessories. The
tensile load should rise smoothly from zero to 75%
of the rated load, and then gradually rising to 100 %
of the rated mechanical load in the time of 30 ~ 90s.
If the time is less than 90s when reaching rated
mechanical load, it should be maintained at this
load 90s (this test can be considered to equivalent
to the 1min rated load tolerance test). After the
tolerance test is over and the sample does not
break, tensile load will continue to exert until the
insulators broken. LY-300 high pressure press of
composite insulators is used with BLR-1 pull
pressure sensors. The maximum load is 300kN and
displacement is 150mm, as showed in Figure 3.
(a) Test arrangement(b) LY-300 high pressure
press machine
Figure 3: Testing site
3.1 INNER WEDGE TYPE
Table 1 and Table 2 showed the mechanical test
results of the inner wedge type composite
insulators from company A and company B,
respectively. 2 of 13 inner wedge type composite
insulators from company A failed to pass the rated
load tolerance test. The breaking value of
mechanical load is between 137.5kN and 161.5kN.
The ratio of damage value and rated value is
between 1.38 and 1.62, and the average value of
the ratios is 1.47 while the relative deviation is
5.45%. 2 266kV/ 100kN inner wedge type
composite insulators from company B appeared
that the core or the ball is broken during the rated
mechanical tolerance test. The average breaking
value of 66kV/70kN is 147.5kN, while the
66kV/100kN’s is 107.3kN and the 220kV/100kN’s is
156.3kN. The ratios of the average breaking load
value to the rated load value about the three types
are 2.11, 1.07 and 1.56, respectively. There is a big
difference in the mechanical strength of the three
inner wedge types from the early products of
company B. The dispersion of the damage value of
the same type product is large and all the three
types’ are over 19.8%. The ratio of damage value
and rated value ranges from 0.81 to 2.59.
The breaking forms of inner wedge type composite
insulators are ball head break, the core break and
the core lengthways damage, and the proportion is
44%, 44% and 12%, respectively, As showed in
Figure 4. The inner wedge type uses the
 mechanical property of core material fully which 9 No
102. Core
1.02
2 breaking
make the mechanical stress in the middle of the
176. Core
core becoming very high and the two parts taking 10 No
3 breaking
1.76
uneven stress that leads to the half core inside the core
fittings getting broken easily because of it bear the 11 No
180. lengthwa
1.81
most of the load. 220 100 7 ys 156.3 1.56 24.6%
damage
Ball
Table 1 Mechanical breaking test results of the 12 No 112 head 1.12
inner wedge type from company A breaking

Aver Ratio
Brea age break Relat
Sliding
king Breakin break ing Ave. ive
No. value/k
valu g form ing load / ratio devia
N
e/kN value rated tion
/kN load
Core
1 No 157 1.57
breaking
Core (a) Ball head break (b) Core break
2 No 152 1.52
breaking
Ball head
3 No 142 1.42
breaking
Ball head
4 No 143 1.43
breaking
Ball head
5 No 149 1.49
breaking
Core (c) Lengthways damage (d) Typical break forms
6 No 157 1.57
breaking Figure 4 The typical break forms of the core with
137. Ball head
7 No
8 breaking
1.38
5.45 the inner wedge type
147.1 1.47
138. Ball head %
8 No 1.38
4 breaking 3.2 OUT WEDGE TYPE
143. Core
9 79.2 1.43
2 breaking
core Table 3 and Table 4 showed the rated mechanical
161. lengthwa tolerance test and mechanical breaking test results
10 79.4 1.62
5 ys
damage
of the 40 outer wedge type composite insulators
Ball head from company A and company B.
11 No 143 1.43
breaking
137. Ball head
12 No
5 breaking
1.38 Table 3 Mechanical breaking test results of outer
150. Ball head wedge type from company A
13 No 1.51
5 breaking
(Notes: In the column of sliding value, “No” indicates that the Ratio
sample do not slide and pass the withstand test.) Avera of
Rela
Slidi Brea ge break
Table 2 Mechanical breaking test results of inner Aver tive
ng king Breaking break ing
No. age devi
wedge type from company B valu valu form ing value
ratio atio
e/kN e/kN value/ to
n%
kN rated
Avera value
Ratio of
Volta Slidi Brea ge Relativ Ball head
Rated breakin Avera 1 No 134 1.34
ge ng king Breakin breaki e breaking
No. load/k g load ge
level/ value valu g form ng deviati Core
N to rated ratio 2 No 128 1.28
kV /kN e/kN value/ on breaking
load
kN core
Ball 3 99.6 99.6 1.00
128. pulled off
1 No head 1.84 Ball head
5 4 No 135 1.35
breaking breaking
core core
5 No 135 1.35
180. lengthwa pulled off
2 No 2.58
70 3 ys 147.5 2.11 27.3% core
6 90.5 90.5 0.91
damage pulled off
Core Core
3 No 99.8 1.43 7 No 148 130 1.48 1.30 10.9
breaking breaking
181. Core core
4 66 No 2.59 8 No 119 1.19
3 breaking pulled off
core
Ball 9 No 142 1.42
pulled off
5 95.7 95.7 head 0.96
breaking core
10 No 135 1.35
pulled off
Core core
6 81 81 0.81
100 breaking 107.3 1.07 19.8% 11 No 140 lengthway 1.40
132. Core s damage
7 No 1.33
6 breaking 128. core
12 76.2 1.29
125. Core 6 pulled off
8 No 1.25
1 breaking 13 73.6 138 Core 1.38
 breaking load, the others’ breaking values are between
132. Ball head 108.3 and 148.4kN. As showed in Table 4, 6 of 17
14 75 1.33
9 breaking outer wedge type composite insulators from
137. Ball head
15 82.6
5 breaking
1.38 company B have the core sliding or breaking
Ball head including 2 66kV/70kN, 1 66kV/100kN, 3 220kV/
16 No 136 1.36
breaking 160kN. 35.3% of the samples from company B
Core failed the test.
17 52.2 128 1.28
breaking
148. Core
18 74.2 1.48
4 breaking The main damage forms are the core break, ball
145. core head break, the core pulled off and the core
19 No 1.45
1 pulled off
127. core
lengthways damage, as showed in Figure 5. And
20 71.5 1.28 the proportion is 45%, 27.5%, 25% and 2.5%,
5 pulled off
21 73.3
108. Core
1.08 respectively. After in service for some time, the
3 breaking
133. Core
mechanical properties of outer wedge type
22 92.4 1.34 composite insulators drop significantly, and the
6 breaking
23 78
128. Core
1.28
dispersion is bigger. The characteristic of the core
4 breaking break of the outer wedge type composite insulators
Table 4: Mechanical breaking test results of the is the margin break along the wedge outer ring of
outer wedge type 110kV/100kN composite the core. This kind of break is closely related to the
insulators from company B technological characteristics of the outer wedge
type. The outer wedge type sets concave-convex
Ratio on the surface to improve the friction, making vary
Aver of
Volt Rate Slidin Breaki age break
degrees of fiber damage on many locations on the
Aver Relative surface.
age d g ng Breaking brea ing
No. age deviation
level load/ value/ value/ form king load
ratio %
/kV kN kN kN value to
/kN rated
load
Core
1 62.7 62.7 0.90
breaking
Core
2 No 72
breaking
1.03 (a) Ball head break (b) Core pulled off
Core
3 58.7 58.7 0.84
breaking
Ball head
4 70 No 122.3 90.1 1.75 1.29 44.82
breaking
Core
5 66 No 76.8 1.10
breaking
Core
(c) Core break (d) Core lengthways damage
6 No 97 1.39
breaking
Ball head
7 No 140.9 2.01
breaking
Core
8 68 68 0.68
breaking
100 103.9 1.04 48.82
Ball head (e)Break core (f) Side of the break core
9 No 139.7 1.40
breaking
Ball head Figure 5: Typical damage form of the core with
10 No 109.7 1.10
breaking outer wedge type
Ball head
11 No 140.2 1.40
breaking
100 124.1 1.24 21.74 The mechanical load test results of outer wedge
Core
12 No 145.1 1.45 type composite insulators showed that the
pulled off
Core mechanical strength of outer wedge type composite
13 No 101.5 1.02
220
breaking insulators from company A dropped obviously,
Core whose minimum is only 0.91 times of the rated load.
14 103.7 103.7 0.65
breaking
But it still satisfied the 0.85 times rated load
Core
15 109.1 109.1
breaking
0.68 according to the standard and could keep on
160 141.6 0.88 35.15 running. The mechanical strength dispersion of
Core
16 129.1 129.1 0.81
breaking outer wedge type composite insulators from
Ball head company B is big. 66kV/70kN, 66kV/100kN and
17 No 224.3 1.40
breaking
220kV/160kN composite insulators all had the
serious decline of the mechanical strength, and the
minimum breaking load is only 0.84, 0.68 and 0.65
As showed in Table 3, 12 of 23 outer wedge type times rated load respectively. According to the
composite insulators from company A have the standard, the minimum damage load which is lower
core sliding phenomenon, the proportion is 52.2%. than 0.75 times rated load must be traced and
The minimum value of sliding load is 52.2kN, 52.2% checked every year or out of service when it is
of the rated load. Except for 2 are lower than rated lower than 0.65 times.
The whole situation of outer wedge type composite had great mechanical properties. And the crimp
insulators is passive. 50% of 40 samples had structure became the choke point of its mechanical
sliding and breaking during the test and the properties after in service for a while. From this
breaking load of 20% samples is lower than the view, the crimp technology required completed.
rated load. Some literatures said that the As shown in Table 5 all samples pass the test
characteristic of outer wedge type is to keep the without core sliding phenomenon. The mechanical
integrality of the core. However, during the actual breaking values are between 1.03 and 2.07. The
process, to guarantee the static friction between average breaking load of four types is 1.74, 1.35,
the internal surface of outer wedge and the end of 1.54 and 1.62 times of the rated load, respectively.
the core, the convex-concave on the internal 2 110kV/100kN composite insulators’ are only 1.03
surface make extreme damage to the fiber on the and 1.06 times of the rated load. The dispersion is
surface of the end of core which will reduce the bigger. It showed that the mechanical properties
effective area of the core end and make the core went down after in service. As showed in Figure 8,
mechanical strength drop during using the pressure the core pulled off is the only destruction form of the
equipment to push the outer wedge into ruled samples.
location. Table 5 showed the rated mechanical
tolerance test and mechanical breaking test results 4 CONCLUSIONS
of the 10 crimp type composite insulators from
company C. 1) The core material influences the mechanical
properties of composite insulators. There were
Table 5: Mechanical breaking results of different kinds of degrees of crack on the surface.
110~500kV crimp type composite insulators 2) Different end fittings link forms have different
breaking forms. For inner wedge type, ball head
Ratio break, the core break and the core damage occupy
Avera of
Volt Rate Slidin Breaki ge break
Relat 44%, 44% and 12% respectively. For outer wedge
Avera ive type, core break, ball head break, core pulled off
No age d g ng Breakin breaki ing
ge devia
. level load/ value/ value/ g form ng value
ratio tion and core damage account 45%, 27.5%, 25% and
/kV kN kN kN value/ to
kN rated
% 2.5%, respectively.
value 3) Mechanical strength of inner wedge type is all
Core higher than outer wedge type. Inner wedge type
1 No 99 1.41
pulled off has a bigger margin of mechanical strength and a
70 122.0 1.74 26.82
Core smaller dispersion and play bigger use of the
2 No 145 2.07
pulled off
Core
mechanical properties of core material.
3 No 167 1.67 4) The mechanical properties of outer wedge
pulled off
110
Core type from both company A and B dropped obvious
4 No 103 1.03
pulled off after in service.
100 135.0 1.35 26.12
Core 5) The mechanical properties of crimp type of
5 No 164 1.64
pulled off
composite insulators were higher, but had bigger
Core
6 No 106 1.06 dispersions. The mechanical properties dropped
pulled off
Core after in service. The core pulled off is the only
7 No 152 1.52
220 100
pulled off
153.5 1.54 1.45 breaking form of the samples and had not the core
Core break.
8 No 155 1.55
pulled off
REFERENCES
Core
9 No 275 1.72
pulled off
500 160 258.5 1.62 9.18 [1] Wang Tao, Wu Guang-ya, Zhang Rui, et al. “State
Core
10 No 242
pulled off
1.51 Evaluation for the Composite Insulators’ Status in
Operational Mode and Its Experimental Study,”
Power System Technology, 2008.6,32(1):146-149.
[2] Yan Dong, Lu Min, Zhang Ke. Composite insulator
operation and instance analysis of Electric
transmission line [M]. Beijing：China electric power
press，2008.5.
[3] Guan Zhicheng. Insulators and external insulation of
Figure 6: Core pulled off of the crimp type
electric transmission and transformation.
[M]．Tsinghua University press，2006.1
These samples all are in service for 1 to 4 years,
[4] IEC Std 61109:1992. Composite insulators for a.c.
and used the same technology. Nowadays, in the
overhead lines with a nominal voltage greater than
design of crimp type composite insulators the ball
arm is used as the mechanical insurance part of a 1000V-Definitions, test methods and acceptance
whole insulator. In the mechanical breaking test, criteria,1992.
the ball head break must be the only result of crimp [5] JB5892-1991 Technical condition of organic
type composite insulators. According to the composite insulator for high voltage line
breaking forms of the samples, the core and fittings