Thermally stimulated current technique to evaluate polymer degradation due to water treeing

The thermally stimulated current (TSC) technique has been used to evaluate the degradation of polymeric insulation containing water trees. It is shown that, compared to the capacitance and tan- delta measurements, the TSC technique is more sensitive and can detect the degradation caused by water treeing. The TSC spectra change with the aging time of the polymeric insulation and the length of the water tree. >