Silicone rubber

in outdoor insulators

Silicone rubber as outdoor insulation

material has been used for more than

25 years with good service experience.

Today silicone rubber is the most used

polymeric material for medium and

high voltage outdoor insulation.

ABB Switchgear
Silicon rubber insulation
Because of the unique non-wetting proper- Flashover resistant
ties, silicone rubber is the fastest growing,
The polymeric insulation material used for ABB
and for high voltage even the dominating,
high voltage equipment is made of a specially
polymeric insulation material.
formulated HTV silicone rubber. Due to the
Compared with ceramic insulation, silicone
chemical nature of silicone, the insulator surface
rubber has the additional advantages of light
is hydrophobic (non-wetting). Water on the
weight and being non-brittle. Depending on the
surface stays as droplets and does not form a
type of equipment, additional technical advan-
continuous water
tages and safety improvements are obtained.
film. The leakage
Silicone rubber insulators manufactured by ABB currents are sup-
have been continuously tested in both normal pressed and the
and severely polluted conditions with good re- risk of flashover is
sults for many years. reduced compared
Today an increasing number of different high with porcelain and
voltage apparatus with silicone rubber insulation other polymeric
are being installed, e.g surge arresters, bushings, materials,
circuit breakers and instrument transformers. especially in pollu- The non-wetting surface of a
ted environments. silicon rubber insulator.

Silicone rubber has the unique ability to main-

tain its hydrophobicity during the lifetime of
the insulation. When new, other polymeric
materials too may be hydrophobic, but they lose
their hydrophobicity after a relatively short time
in service.
The mechanism behind the hydrophobicity of
silicone rubber is the diffusion of low molecular
weight (LMW) silicones to the surface where
they spread out and form a hydrophobic layer.
They have also the ability to encapsulate conta-
minant particles. The layer of LMW silicones is
extremely thin; of the order of a few molecular
layers only. The LMW silicones are distributed
in the bulk of the silicone rubber and the diffu-
sion to the rubber surface acts over the entire life
of the insulation. The loss of the material over
the lifetime is negligible and will not impair
other insulator properties.
Washing is normally not needed.

Hydrophobicity inspection for verifying

the silicone rubber insulation in heavily
polluted environment.
Withstands ageing
Polymer insulators need to have two kinds of
protection against ageing under polluted service
conditions.
Leakage current control
With low leakage currents, the discharge activity
on the surface is low and the erosion is mini-
mised. A hydrophobic surface suppresses the
leakage currents because of droplet formation
which prevents leakage currents from flowing
along the polluted wetted surface. Under heavy
and prolonged pollution, hydrophobicity may
be reduced temporarily but recovers quite quickly
as soon as the conditions are normalised. The
ability to recover hydrophobicity is maintained
during the whole service life.
Erosion resistance
The material must withstand discharge activity
on the surface without being destroyed. It is ine-
vitable that even silicone rubber shows some dis-
charge activity under severe pollution, though it
is less than for non-hydrophobic materials like
porcelain and EP-rubbers. Polymer materials that
have poor erosion resistance will not survive in
polluted environments even if the material is
hydrophobic under normal conditions; discharge
activity during the temporary hydrophilic (wet-
ting) periods will sooner or later destroy the
material by erosion. The silicone rubber used for
ABB high voltage equipment is further protected
by aluminium trihydrate (ATH) which has a
proven arc and fire resistance capability. ATH
contains bonded crystal water which has an
extinguishing effect on the surface discharges.
The ageing resistance of the ABB silicone insula-
tion has been verified by accelerated ageing like
the 1000 h salt fog test and the 5000 h cyclic test.
Natural pollution tests are continuously perfor-
med at test stations in both marine and desert
climates.
UV stability
The natural UV radiation consists of wave-
lengths over 300 nanometers. Shorter and
more energetic wavelengths are filtered
out in the atmosphere. Silicone has its
maximum absorption below this
wavelength, which means that it
has higher resistance against
break-down than other polymers
like EP-rubber and epoxies. These
properties give silicone rubber its superior
stability against heat and UV-radiation.
Additional advantages
The light weight of silicone insulation offers
advantages with respect to earthquake withstand
capability especially where porcelain insulation is
an appreciable part of the total weight.
Installation is also facilitated be-
cause the need of heavy installa-
tion equipment is reduced; strength and
weight of supports can be decreased. Sus-
pension installation is facilitated. Being
non-brittle also means that the risk of
damage to sheds is reduced under trans-
port, installa-tion and in service. The risk
of explosion and scattering of danger-
ous pieces is reduced. Silicone rubber
has a high inherent fire resistance. This
is further increased by the active fillers
which makes the ABB silicone mate-
rial self-extinguishing.
Silicone insulation also allows for new
and better techniques to be used like
integrated fibre optics in the main ap-
paratus insulators of circuit breakers
and instrument transformers.
550 kV earthquake-proof sili-
con rubber insulated surge
arrester type PEXLIM P®
for the Los Angeles area.
 There are few silicon rubber compositions which are
good enough to be a part of a high voltage system
The outdoor insulation properties discussed in
the previous pages are unique to the silicone
rubber developed by ABB and are not valid for
porcelain and other polymeric materials like EP-
rubber and epoxies.
The silicone material for ABB high voltage
equipment is approved according to relevant
NOTE! ABB Switchgear is working to continuously improve the products. Therefore
we reserve the right to change design, dimensions and data without prior notice.
ABB Switchgear AB
SE-771 80 LUDVIKA, Sweden
Tel +46 240 78 20 00
Fax +46 240 78 35 59
IEC and ANSI standards. The high voltage ap-
paratus with silicone insulation has also proven
its good performance at test stations in severe
climates and commercial installations all over
the world.
By choosing ABB high voltage equipment with
silicon rubber insulation, excellent performance
and reliability can be assured for a long time.
Production: ReklamCenter AB (98202), Västra Aros Trycker. Västerås 1998-09, 5000 ex
A complete silicone program for all types of
ABB high voltage equipment.
Printed in Sweden
Catalogue Publ. SESWG/I 0000en
Edition 1, 1998-09