Thermally stimulated current from water-treed XLPE

The authors report thermally stimulated current (TSC) measurements on unaged and aged water-tree retardant XLPE (cross-linked polyethylene). It is shown that the TSC spectra change with the degradation of polymeric insulation due to water treeing. The nonuniform distribution of charges in the aged specimens could be due to the penetration of ions and water molecules into the polymer during aging.<<ETX>>