444 A. Naderian et al.

: Aging Characteristics of RTV Silicone Rubber Insulator Coatings

Aging Characteristics of RTV Silicone Rubber

Insulator Coatings
A. Naderian Jahromi, Edward A. Cherney, Shesha H. Jayaram
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada

and Leonardo C. Simon

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo

ABSTRACT
The paper reports on tests done on four commercial room temperature vulcanized
(RTV) silicone rubber high voltage insulator coatings aimed at achieving information
on the relative performance of the coatings with respect to aging. The initial
characterization of the coatings includes the identification of the primary filler type,
concentration of filler, the amount of free fluid, and the molecular species of the free
fluid. Soxhlet extraction and gas chromatography tests show considerable depletion of
fluid after accelerated aging tests in acid-water and the associated changes to the
physical properties is assessed by standard mechanical tests on coupon size specimens.
The effect of acid-water aging on the hydrophobicity is assessed by measurements of
the static contact angle and the onset of leakage current in an incline plane test.
Several field aged coatings are assessed for residual LMW fluid which is compared to
accelerated aging tests.
Index Terms - RTV silicone rubber coating, HVIC, accelerated aging, depletion of
fluid, hydrophobicity, de-polymerization, Soxhlet extraction, lifetime, gas
chromatography, LMW fluid.

1 INTRODUCTION
OF the concerns that users have today in using room
temperature vulcanized (RTV) silicone rubber coatings for
high voltage insulators, surely the life expectancy of the
coatings has been the main one. Lifetime is not easy to
assess as many factors play a role in the life of a coating.
However, it is generally considered that the end of life is
associated with the depletion of the low molecular weight
fluid resulting in permanent changes to the hydrophobicity
of the surface layer. More specifically, a loss of fluid leads
to a greatly reduced rate of return of hydrophobicity after
experiencing a temporary loss for example, during rain
washing. Ultimately, a permanent loss of hydrophobicity
may occur but this has not yet been observed in the field.
Considerable research has been reported on the
performance of high voltage insulator coatings (HVIC)
dealing with the type and amount of inorganic fillers as
documented in a review article by Hackam [1]. These
studies have generally been performed in the laboratory by
exposing samples to salt-fog or in an inclined plane test.
The time in which a temporary loss of hydrophobicity as
gauged by the onset of leakage current and the ensuing
physical erosion due to dry band arcing of the various coatings
have been compared. However, in all of this work, the main
Manuscript received on 10 January 2007, in final form 24 April 2007.
emphasis has been on the degree at which the various fillers
are capable of reducing the mass loss during dry band arcing.
Of course this assumes that the temporary loss of
hydrophobicity inevitably leads to the development of leakage
current and dry band arcing on insulators in the field. After
many years of HVIC use, this observation has yet to be
reported. What has been observed by users is a loss of
hydrophobicity but only on the unprotected parts of the
leakage path., for example on the upper surfaces of
insulators as evident in Figure 1. Flashover has also been
reported without the usual dry band activity that is normally
associated with uncoated insulators. This type of flashover
is somewhat analogous to a wet flashover of a non-ceramic
insulator but at normal line-to-ground voltage and the
mechanism has been referred to as a “sudden flashover”
which has been previously discussed by Gorur et al [2].
The loss of hydrophobicity of a RTV coating occurs with
time through natural washing and this process takes a very
long time before the coating performance is affected. In
addition, as fluid diffuses into surface contaminant, the
removal of contaminant speeds up the depletion of the fluid
responsible for hydrophobicity. Furthermore, in coastal
regions where wetting is often constant, the loss of
hydrophobicity occurs very rapidly. In other regions the
loss of hydrophobicity is accelerated by acid-rain which
often causes depolymerization of the RTV coatings [3, 4].

1070-9878/08/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE

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 IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 15, No. 2; April 2008 445

depolymerization due to acid-water is assessed by

investigation of physical properties, i.e. standard
mechanical tests of hardness and elongation of coupon
specimens.

2 CHARACTERISTICS OF COATINGS
EVALUATED
Considerable variation in viscosity, skin-over and cure
times, and specific gravity of the four commercial coatings
was observed in the as-received condition. Therefore, all
samples were made under the same conditions after
thorough mixing and left to air cure for 7 days prior to
characterization and acid-water immersion. The specific
gravity, primary filler type and concentration, porosity, the
amount of free fluid available, were the main properties
used in the characterization of the coatings. The method by
which each property was determined is briefly outlined
below. Table 1 summarizes sample composition and the
data obtained in the initial characterization.
Figure 1. Photograph of the top end of a RTV coated 500 kV station post
insulator taken at night showing corona discharge from wetted parts of the Table 1. Characteristics of cured coatings.
insulator without dry band arcing. RTV Primary Filler Specific Water Fluid
Coating Filler Wt % Gravity Absorption Wt %
Wt %
The definition of acid rain is not very clear; generally
rainwater having a pH below 5.6 is called acid-rain. The A ATH 54 1.48 13.6 2.26
main acids in rain are sulfuric and nitric acids [5] and the B ATH 51 1.54 4.20 1.13
C ATH 47 1.45 17.4 3.47
root cause of acid rain stems from the burning of coal and
D Silica 40* 1.61 4.10 1.14
hydrocarbon fuels. When the atmosphere is polluted with
* Estimated from specific gravity
sulfur dioxide (SO2) or nitrogen oxides (NOX), rain-water
goes through oxidation with ozone (O3) or hydrogen
peroxide (H2O2) forming H2SO4 or HNO3 before reaching 2.1 SPECIFIC GRAVITY
the earth. The most severe influence of acid rain on RTV The specific gravity of each coating was measured before
coatings is depolymerization [4] and in the extreme cases and after curing by accurately measuring the weight and
reported, the coating becomes very soft somewhat similar volume of the specimens.
to a putty. Acid-depolymerization of RTV coatings occurs 2.2 PRIMARY FILLER TYPE
when OH radicals begin to sever polymer chains resulting
in shorter chains in which the manifestation is a drastic Specimens of the coatings were studied in a scanning
change in material physical properties such as a loss of electron microscope (SEM) with an energy dispersive X-
tensile strength, elongation, and hardness. Previous studies ray attachment (EDAX). The particles that were dispersed
have shown that nitrous oxides are more harmful and throughout the rubber matrix were scanned and X-ray
corrosive than sulfuric acid [6]. counts of the elements were noted. The presence of
aluminum (Al) or silicon (Si) X-ray counts from the
Various rates of aging have been reported in different particles are attributed to alumina and silica fillers,
types of acids and a variation in pH between 2 and 5.6 has respectively. Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA)
been used for this purpose [3-5, 7, 10, 11]. According to a confirmed that Al in three of the coatings was from alumina
field measurement in a 230 kV high voltage substation, the tri-hydrate (ATH).
acid rain has a pH of 3.9 [3]. By comparing the weight loss
of field aged RTV samples to laboratory aged samples, this 2.3 PRIMARY FILLER CONCENTRATION
study suggested that one month of immersion in nitric acid Thermo-gravimetric analysis was used to analyze the
of pH=3.9 at 90 0C in the laboratory is equivalent to 90 coatings thermally. In this measurement, the temperature
months of field aging. was increased at a rate of 20 0C/min from 100 to 800 0C.
In this work, four commercial RTV coatings are The weight loss versus temperature for the RTV coatings is
examined for performance characteristics with respect to shown in Figure 2. For coatings A, B and C, the curve
aging. The loss of hydrophobicity is assessed by the ease trend changes at around 200 0C which is correlated to the
in which leakage current develops in an inclined plane test, release of the water of hydration and confirms ATH as the
measurement of the static contact angle, loss of LMW fluid, primary filler type. The concentration of ATH in these
and the loss of LMW species. The associated effect of coatings can be calculated from the percentage weight loss

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 446 A. Naderian et al.: Aging Characteristics of RTV Silicone Rubber Insulator Coatings

at 350 0C being due to the release of the water of hydration
from the ATH filler. For coating D, the silica filled
coating, the specific gravity is used to estimate the
concentration of filler.
The average contact angle was calculated from ten droplets;
each having a volume of about 20 μL , and these results are
shown in Figures 3 and 4.
The water immersion test indicates that the increment of
water absorption for RTV-D and RTV-B is an order of
magnitude smaller than RTV-A and RTV-C. RTV-C lost
hydropobicity after 15 days whereas the other coatings still
exhibited a static contact angle of 85 degrees. Scanning
electron microphotographs show considerable
agglomeration of micron size filler particles in RTV-A and
this may be the reason for increased voids while in RTV-C,
the relatively large particles give rise to large voids in the
silicone matrix and the microphotographs suggest poor
bonding between the particles and the matrix.

Figure 2. Thermo-gravimetric plots of cured coating specimens.

Once again, RTV-D has not ATH, as no water of

hydration was extracted in TGA test. Apart from the filler
concentration, the thermal stability of coatings was
observed from the TGA, which is outlined in Table 2. The
definition of the parameters and evaluation shown in the
table is based on reference [7]. The initial degradation
temperature (Ti) corresponds to a 1% thermal
decomposition and this temperature is about 100 oC higher
for RTV-D. Also, T50 is more than 500 oC for this coating.
The comparison of thermal decomposition of the coatings
clearly shows that RTV-D is more thermally stable than the
others considering Ti and T50. Figure 3. Weight gain of samples measured after water immersion.
115
Table 2. Parameters evaluated from TGA.
RTV-A
Contact Angle, Degree

105 RTV-B
RTV RTV-C
Ti (oC) TATH (oC) T50 (oC) Tf (oC) RTV-D
Coating
A 250 343 410 560 95
B 222 350 463 600
C 240 349 490 560 85
D 345 - 523 570
Definition of Parameters [7]: Ti: Initial decomposition temperature, TATH:
Water released ending temperature, T50: 50% weight loss temperature, Tf: 75
Final decomposition temperature.
65
2.4 WATER ABSORPTION 0 5 10 15
Water absorption of a RTV coating is an indicator of Number of Days
porosity and in filled materials this is normally associated
with poor bonding between the filler particles and the Figure 4. Static contact angle measured as a function of immersion time
silicone matrix and spaces between the particles. Moreover, in water.
soaking in water has been used previously to evaluate the
loss of hydrophobicity of polymer surfaces [8]. In these 2.5 LMW FLUID CONCENTRATION
tests, two samples of each coating were immersed in 80 0C The fluid content of the silicone rubber was measured
tap water, of 350 μS/cm conductivity, for 15 days. At 5 using the Soxhlet extraction technique with analytical grade
day intervals, the samples were removed, air dried, and the n-hexane [9]. Extraction was carried out for 72 hours on
weight gain was recorded using a microbalance having a two specimens of each coating. The dimensions of
sensitivity of 0.1 mg. The static contact angle, as recorded specimens were 2 cm x 2 cm, and 4 cm x 2 cm respectively.
with a digital camera from which the angle was measured. A vacuum oven was employed to dry the samples for 10

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 IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 15, No. 2; April 2008 447

hours at 80 oC and at 0.1 kPa pressure. The difference in 3.1 LOSS OF HYDROPHOBICITY
weight of the specimens before and after immersion in n- Contact angle is normally used as a means of estimating
hexane after drying in an oven is assumed to be a measure the loss of hydrophobicity after aging. However, as the
of the low molecular weight (LMW) content. A loss of hydrophobicity leads to the development of leakage
microbalance having a sensitivity of 0.1 mg was used in current and dry band arcing, a test such as the inclined
this measurement. RTV-C showed the highest percentage plane test provides a means of evaluating the effect of acid-
of free fluid while RTV-B and RTV-D had the lowest and water aging.
nearly the same percentage of free fluid.

2.6 GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY ANALYSIS OF

LMW FLUID
Gas chromatography (GC) was employed to investigate
the cyclic species of the LMW extracted from the bulk and
the surface layer of the RTV coatings. The gas
chromatographs indicate the distribution of
polydimethylsiloxane, [(CH3)2Si-O]n, in which n= 3, 4,
5,…., where n=3 to 7 corresponds to low molecular weight,
n=8 to 12 mid-weight and n is higher than 12 to high-
weight siloxanes [3, 9, 12]. As a note, the viscosity of the
free fluid increases with increasing molecular weight, or
with n.
An Agilent 6890 GC system utilizing HPGC
ChemStation software was used for the analysis. A
solution of 20 mL n-hexane plus 1000 ppm of each cyclic
group of D4, D5, D6, and D9 was employed as the standard
to compare the siloxane chromatograms of the coatings.
The standard elements were supplied with a minimum
capillary GC purity specification of 98.0 % by Ohio Valley
Specialty Chemicals. In the analysis, the fluid was
extracted in a similar way as in the Soxhlet test using 100
mL of hexane. The extracted fluid samples were injected
into the GC and the oven was heated to 40 oC, held for one
minute, then the temperature was increased to 300 oC at 20
o
C/min and held at this temperature for 6 minutes.
The distributions of the molecular species of the coatings
evaluated are shown in Fig. 5. All samples showed an
abundance of low-weight cyclics, D4, D5, D6, and D7
followed by a lesser amount of mid-weight cycles D8 to
D12. The amount of higher-weight cyclics (D13 to D18) is
relatively higher in RTV-D. Clearly, RTV-C shows a
higher abundance of mixed cyclics and confirming the
Soxhlet result of higher wt % fluid shown in Table 1.

3 ACID-WATER IMMERSION TESTS

As mentioned in introduction, an earlier work [3] formed
the basis for the present study using nitric acid for aging.
Samples were aged by immersion in nitric acid solution for
two weeks in a temperature controlled oven at 80 oC and
the acidity was adjusted every 5 hours to a pH of 4 ± 0.4.
A slightly lower temperature was selected for the aging due
to limitations in the laboratory. However, unlike the earlier
study, the present study does not attempt to develop an
acceleration factor for aging. Figure 5. Gas chromatographs of new RTV samples.

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 448 A. Naderian et al.: Aging Characteristics of RTV Silicone Rubber Insulator Coatings

Two sets of six samples were evaluated, one before aging

and the other after aging. Samples RTV-A, RTV-B and
RTV-D did not show a significant change in the
development of leakage current after aging, and one
example is shown for RTV-D in Figure 6. However, RTV-
C showed a significant change in the leakage current
development, as shown in Figure 7 which is indicative of a
complete loss of hydrophobicity. These results correspond
to the rapid loss of hydrophobicity after water immersion as
evident in Figure 4. All the other three coating showed a
very similar rate of leakage current development which is
indicative of a similar rate of loss of hydrophobicity. Once
again, this can be noted in Figure 4.

3.2 LOSS OF PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

It has been observed that changes to the chemical
rd
Figure 6. Development of the 3 harmonic of the leakage current for structure of RTV rubber occurs in the presence of moisture,
sample RTV-D before and after acid-water aging. acids and other severe ambient conditions and correlate to
changes in physical properties such as hardness, tensile
The test was conducted using the apparatus outlined in strength, and elongation at break [12, 13, 14].
ASTM D 2303 using six samples of each coating. The
Table 3. Summary of mechanical tests.
samples were prepared by applying the coating to ceramic
slabs having the dimensions of 50 mm x 120 mm and the Coating
thickness of coated material was about 1 mm. Property A B C D
The test method generally followed the standard using Initial/Aged Initial/Aged Initial/Aged Initial/Aged
0.1% ammonium chloride as the contaminant with a flow Tensile
rate of 0.15 mL/min and the initial test voltage was 2.0 kV. strength at 2.4/0.7 2.7/2.2 1.2/0.6 2.5/1.6
break, Mpa
At each hour during the test, the voltage was increased by
Elongation
250 V and the test continued for 4 hours. The measurement at break, %
156/86 81/53 88/51 86/66
instrumentation consisted of a National Instruments TM PCI Hardness,
6111 data acquisition card, shunt resistors for current Shore A 62/70 63/73 57/77 55/60
measurement and resistor voltage dividers for monitoring Durometer
of the voltage on each of the channels. The 3rd harmonic of Change in
the leakage current, which stems from dry band arcing, was tensile - 70 - 19 - 50 - 36
strength, %
recorded with the time of the test. A forward averaging
Change in
technique was used to smooth out the plots of leakage
elongation - 45 - 35 -42 -23
current plots to show the trends. at break, %
Change in
+13 +16 +35 +9.5
hardness, %

A MINIMAT 2000 tensile tester was used to measure the

Figure 7. Development of the 3rd harmonic of the leakage current for
sample RTV-C before and after acid-water aging.
tensile strength and elongation at break and these tests were
performed in accordance with ASTM D3039. For each test,
the number of samples was 5 to 8 depending on the
variance in the results. Initially, 5 samples were tested and
if the variance was more than 10 %, an additional sample
was tested and this procedure was continued until the
variance was below 10 %. These results are shown in
Table 3.
Hardness gives an indication of the change that occurs in
RTV rubber that results from oxidation [11]. A type-A
durometer tester with an accuracy of ±1 point was used
following the procedure in ASTM D2240. The thickness of
samples was 2 mm and five measurements were carried out
at least 0.6 cm apart on the surface of the samples and the
average value is reported in Table 3.

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 IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 15, No. 2; April 2008 449

RTV-A and RTV-C exhibited the largest reductions in
the tensile strength and elongation at break and after acid-
water aging. The degradation of RTV-C was visible even
without microscope (Figure 8). Such deep cracks
resembling mud crack was not observed in the other
coatings.
All samples showed increased hardness with RTV-C
showing the greatest increase of 35% after 336 hours in
nitric acid. The brittleness of RTV-C is noted in the surface
cracks evident in Figure 8.
3.4 GAS CHROMATOGRAPHS OF ACID-WATER
AGED COATINGS
Gas chromatographs of the coatings after acid-water
aging were determined for the coatings according to the
method outlined in section 2.6, to observe the reduction in
polydimethylsiloxane cyclics as compared to new coatings.
These results are shown in Figure 9.

Figure 8. Surface deterioration of RTV-C observed after 336 hours of

acid-water aging.

3.3 LOSS OF LMW FLUID

The polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) chains in silicone
rubber have molecular weights in the range of 104 to 105
g/mol, of which only a very small fraction of these are
cyclic groups and these are commonly referred to as LMW
fluid [7, 9].
To analyze the LMW fraction in the samples, 1 g of each
sample with the same thickness was extracted using 250
mL of analytical grade n-hexane following the general
method outlined in section 2.5 above. The concentration of
fluid was calculated from the weight difference before and
after extraction and these values are listed in Table 4.
RTV-C showed the highest loss of LMW fluid after acid-
water aging followed by RTV-A. Coatings RTV-B and Figure 9. Gas chromatographs of acid-water aged coatings.
RTV-D showed a considerably lower loss of LMW fluid.

Table 4. Soxhlet extraction of LMW fluid in un-aged and acid-water All coatings showed a marked decrease in all cyclic
aged RTV coatings. groups after acid-water aging with RTV-C showing the
RTV Coating greatest decrease which corresponds to the Soxhlet
A B C D extraction results shown in Table 4. The least change
occurred in RTV-B followed by RTV-D. The reduction in
Un-aged, LMW fluid, % 2.26 1.13 3.47 1.14
the cyclic groups following acid-water aging is mainly due
Acid-water aged, LMW fluid,
%
1.11 1.03 1.25 0.97 to opening of the PDMS structure and reduction of
Loss of LMW fluid after acid- molecular weight allowing the LMW fluid to be easily
51 9 64 15
water aging, % extracted.

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 450 A. Naderian et al.: Aging Characteristics of RTV Silicone Rubber Insulator Coatings
4 FIELD AGED COATINGS
Field aged coatings of known length of time in service
and type is always difficult to obtain with any certainty as
record keeping is not always reliable. However, two field
aged coatings RTV-A and RTV-C were obtained from
insulators having 6 and 10 years of exposure, respectively,
and are identified as RTV-AFA and RTV-CFA. RTV-AFA
was exposed to industrial contaminant in a region where
natural rain washing occurs infrequently while RTV-CFA
was exposed to a coastal environment. Both were covered
with a light deposit and the ESDD was not estimated.
Soxhlet extraction tests were done on the samples with and
without surface contaminant following the procedure
outlined above in section 2.5. The samples were in the
weight range of ~ 2.5 grams to reduce possible error. The
samples without contaminant were cleaned using distilled
water and a soft brush. These results are shown in Table 5.
Table 5. Soxhlet extraction of LMW fluid in field aged RTV coatings.
Sample RTV-AFA RTV-CFA
With contaminant, % 1.18 1.73
Without contaminant, % 1.05 1.22
In the case of RTV-A, that was in the field for 6 years,
the LMW of the sample, RTV-AFA, is very close to the
loss of LMW of the laboratory acid-water aged sample
shown in Table 4. Un-aged RTV-C has a 3.47% LMW free
fluid according to Table 4 and this value is 1.73% based on
Table 5. Therefore, RTV that was in the field for 10 years,
showed a loss of about 50 % of the LMW fluid. Of course
this assumes that no changes in the coating formulations
occurred over this time. As evident in Table 5, a part of the
LMW is trapped in the contaminant layer which may not
participate effectively to help the recovery of
hydrophobicity.
Figure 10. Return of hydrophobicity after a temporary loss as determined
by measurement of the static contact angle on new and field-aged samples
of RTV-A and RTV-C.
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The return of hydrophobicity, after a temporary loss, was
investigated by measuring the static contact angle as a function
of time. This was done on new and field aged specimens of
RTV-A and RTV-C. Before the test, the samples were washed
in water, which simulates a heavy rain condition, to temporarily
destroy the hydrophobicity. Then, the contact angle was
measured at intervals over a 36 hour period by averaging the
contact angle of 10 drops, each about 20 μL volume, of distilled
water and these results are shown plotted in Figure 10.
According to Figure 10, field aged RTV-C, identified as
RTV-CFA, showed an initial contact angle more than 30
degrees lower than the un-aged sample, and again, this assumes
the manufacturer has not changed the formulation over this time.
Also, the sample did not show hydrophobicity recovery in the
36 hour test period. But in the case of RTV-A, RTV-AFA
showed a similar trend of recovery of hydrophobicity compared
with a new sample of RTV-A.
There is a notable difference on the amount of low and
medium molecular weight of polydimethylsiloxane cyclics of
field aged samples: RTV-AFA and RTV-CFA, according to
Fig.11. To quantify the difference, Table 6 compares the relative
abundance of PDMS cyclics for new, acid-water and field aged
samples of RTV-A and RTV-C. Once again it must be assumed
that the coating formulations have not changed and under this
assumption, the field aged samples show a marked reduction in
the D6 to D12 cyclic groups. Inconsistencies in the relative
abundance of the cyclic groups below and above this range are
believed to be due to error in the detected values. In addition,
the relative abundance of cyclic groups in field aged samples are
similar to those detected in laboratory acid-water aged samples
although with only two samples, one can only speculate on the
effect of field exposure.
Figure 11. Gas chromatographs of field aged coatings, RTV-AFA and
RTV-CFA.
 IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 15, No. 2; April 2008 451

Table 6. Comparison of the relative abundance of cyclic groups for new, rate of return of hydrophobicity that constitutes the end of
acid-water and filed aged coatings.
useful life on an insulator.
There were no field aged samples of RTV-B and RTV-D
Coatings
RTV-A RTV-C
available for this study, but it may be possible to extend the
Cyclic Acid- Field Acid- Field conclusion that the acid-water laboratory aged samples
group New water aged New water aged shows a similar loss of LMW % as the field aged samples.
aged 6y aged 10 y Based on this observation and assumption, and considering
D3 12 11 8.5 Table 4, it is predicted that RTV-B and RTV-D show a
D4 5 7 6.5 5 8 6 better performance in the field and have longer life
D5 6 6.5 9 27 2 1.5
D6 30 22 17 94 12.5 7.5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
D7 25 19.5 19 70 13 15 The financial support provided by Natural Sciences and
D8 13 11 9 40 8.5 10 Research Council of Canada is appreciated. The authors
D9 16 8 6.5 28 6.6 8 gratefully acknowledge Dr. Ayman El-Hag for helping in
D10 8 5.4 4.5 22 5 9 the TGA work.
D11 6 9 5 18 4.8 6
D12 10 6 6 16 6 8
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accelerating the tracking of polystyrene insulating material”, J.
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 452 A. Naderian et al.: Aging Characteristics of RTV Silicone Rubber Insulator Coatings
Ali Naderian Jahromi (S’04-M’06) received the
B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Sharif University
of Technology, Iran in 1998 and the University
of Tehran, Iran in 2000, respectively. He
received the Ph.D. degree in 2005 from the
University of Tehran after a two-year leave of
absence as a research student at the high voltage
laboratory of the University of Waterloo. His
employment experience includes Iran-Switch
Company (1997-1999) testing of switchgear and
circuit breakers, Iran-Transfo Company (1999-
2001) designing and manufacturing of HV transformers, and Iran Power
Generation and Transmission Organization (TAVANIR) in the HV
substations planning division (2001-2004). Currently he is a Post Doctoral
Fellow at the high voltage laboratory of the University of Waterloo. His
research interests include high voltage test techniques, power transformers,
XLPE cables, outdoor insulators and diagnostics of power system
apparatus such as on-line PD measurement.
Edward A. Cherney (M’73-SM’83-F’97) received
the B.Sc. degree from the University of Waterloo,
the M.Sc. degree from McMaster University and the
Ph.D. degree from the University of Waterloo in
1967, 1969 and 1974, respectively. In 1968 he
joined the Research Division of Ontario Hydro and
in 1988 he went into manufacturing of polymer
insulators and of silicone materials. Since 1999 he
has been involved in international projects in
outdoor insulation. He has been an adjunct
professor for 22 years, first at the University of Windsor and currently at
the University of Waterloo. He has published extensively, holds several
patents, co-authored a book on outdoor insulators, actively involved in
IEEE working groups and a registered engineer in the Province of Ontario.
Authorized licensed use limited to: NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS). Downloaded on October 01,2021 at 17:40:20 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
Shesha H. Jayaram (M’87-SM’97) is a
Professor in the Electrical and Computer
Engineering Dept., University of Waterloo,
Waterloo, and an Adjunct Professor at the
University of Western Ontario, London. She
received the B.A.Sc. degree in electrical
engineering from the Bangalore University,
M.A.Sc. in high voltage engineering from Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the Ph.D.
degree in electrical engineering from University of Waterloo, in 1980,
1983, and 1990, respectively. Prof. Jayaram’s research interests are
developing diagnostics to analyze insulating materials, industrial
applications of high voltage engineering, and applied electrostatics. Prof.
Jayaram has been an active member of the IEEE Dielectric and Electrical
Insulation Society and the Electrostatic Processes Committee (EPC) of the
IEEE Industry Applications Society. She is a registered professional
engineer in the Province of Ontario, Canada
Leonardo C. Simon received the B.S. M.S. and
Ph.D. degree from Federal University of Rio
Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1995,
1998 and 2001, respectively. From April to
December 2001, he worked as a Postdoctoral
Fellow at University of Waterloo. Currently Dr.
Simon is an assistant professor at chemical
engineering department of University of
Waterloo and his main areas of interest are
correlation of synthesis-structure-properties of polymers, development of
polymer nano-composites and mathematical modeling of polymerization
mechanisms.