Temperature dependence of mechanical, electrical properties and crystal structure of polyethylene blends for cable insulation

There is a long-standing puzzle concerning whether polyethylene blends are a suitable substitution for cable-insulation-used crosslinking polyethylene (XLPE) especially at elevated temperatures. In this paper, we investigate temperature dependence of mechanical, electrical properties of blends with 70 wt % linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and 30 wt % high density polyethylene (HDPE) (abbreviated as 70 L-30 H). Our results show that the dielectric loss of 70 L-30 H is about an order of magnitude lower than XLPE, and the AC breakdown strength is 22% higher than XLPE at 90 °C. Moreover, the dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMA) measurement and hot set tests suggest that the blends shows optimal mechanical properties especially at high temperature with considerable temperature stability. Further scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis uncover the reason for the excellent high temperature performance and temperature stability, which can be ascribed to the uniform fine-spherulite structure in 70 L-30 H blends with high crystallinity sustaining at high temperature. Therefore, our findings may enable the potential application of the blends as cable insulation material with higher thermal-endurance ability.