Research on Lifespan Prediction of Cross-Linked Polyethylene Material for XLPE Cables

In this paper, cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) cables of the same batch from Factory A, which ran from 1 to 8 years in Jiangsu Province, are sampled. Some widely accepted aging characterization methods of XLPE cables such as the gel content test, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) test, tensile test and hardness test are employed to obtain the physicochemical, mechanical and electrical properties of the samples. Then, some lifespan prediction parameters significantly correlated with operating time are obtained through correlation calculations. Finally, a prediction method is proposed to predict the operating time of XLPE cables from Factory A. The test results indicate that parameters including the gel content Cge, the crystallinity XC, tensile strength σ, ultimate elongation δ, the dielectric permittivity ε, and the dielectric loss Jtan are significantly correlated with operating time, which can be used in evaluating the aging degree of XLPE cables. Moreover, due to the high accuracy of the experimental verification, it turns out that the lifespan prediction method proposed in this paper can be used to determine the operating time of XLPE cables from Factory A in future research.