Most of the surface property related applications of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) exploit its familiar low surface energy characteristic. The use of PDMS to produce water-shedding hydrophobic high-voltage insulators is one such application. Severe electrical discharges can cause the surface to lose hydrophobicity, a situation much alleviated by the rapid hydrophobic recovery property of most PDMS materials as shown in the plot from our study [1] of Sylgard® 184 subjected to partial electrical discharge pulses using a needle-to-plane electrode configuration – black symbols are on extracted samples at various discharge levels and exposure times, open symbols are with added low MW PDMS fluid. At low electrical discharge levels the hydrophobic recovery is primarily caused by migration of preexisting fluids from the bulk to the surface. At higher levels the dominant mechanism in the recovery becomes the migration of <i>in-situ</i> produced low molecular weight species in the elastomer.<br/><br/>[1] Kim, Chaudhury, Owen, Orbeck (2001), J. Colloid Interface Sci. 244:200

Silicone high voltage insulation

251st National Meeting (2016)

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