In recent years polymeric insulators have been widely used in high voltage application due to their ease of handling, cost, and their good performance comparing with traditional types. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer has attracted great attention because of its unique advantages. The aim of this paper is to investigate the aging of in-field high temperature vulcanizing (HTV) silicon rubber insulator and trace its degradation under real severe climate (humid, hot, and polluted). In addition it has been tried to determine, which part of the insulator is more susceptible to environmental degradation. For this purpose a 14 years old high voltage (230 kV) in-field insulator was chosen. Sampling was done from different directions of three sheds (top, middle and bottom). To analyze the chemical changes and surface degradation, Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and STRI hydrophobicity class were employed. The results showed that the middle shed had less aging compare to top and the bottom ones. It seems to be for more powerful electrical field in two ends of an insulator. Furthermore, no drastic chemical changes occurred among different parts of an individual shed.
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