The correlation between degradation-induced changes in two important indicators of mechanical properties, namely elongation at break (EAB) and indenter modulus (IM), is examined for flame-retardant ethylene propylene rubber (FR-EPR), silicone rubber (SiR), flame-retardant crosslinked polyethylene (FR-XLPE), and XLPE. The samples were degraded by heat or concurrently by heat and radiation. In the case that the polymers become hard after they were degraded, the two indicators show a good correlation. However, if they become brittle, their correlation is not good. Regarding this, their correlation is good in SiR, while it is not good in FR-XLPE and XLPE. In FR-EPR, the correlativity changes, depending on the aging condition and presumably its additives.

To examine electrical insulation behavior of cables under severe accident environmental conditions, safety-related low voltage cables used as severe accident management equipment were subjected to two tests that simulated two environments: 1) at 155 oC, which is the simulated highest assumed temperature when proper accident management measures are taken, 2) at 200 oC, which is the maximum durable temperature of a primary containment vessel. In addition, electrical insulation resistance was measured for the cables during steam exposure in the two tests. As a result, all the cables passed the acceptance criteria of the tests. The minimum volume resistivity of the cables during the test at 155 oC was around 108 Ωm, confirming that the cables have a sufficient insulation performance. On the other hand, the minimum volume resistivity during the severer test at 200 oC was around 105 Ωm due to the increase in leak current.

Terahertz absorption spectra were measured for nine kinds of antioxidants. The spectra were also measured for lowdensity polyethylene sheets that contain each antioxidant with different contents. As a result, a fingerprint spectrum appears for each antioxidant, from which the antioxidants become distinguishable and their contents can be estimated.

In radiation research facility, where heat and radiation are two crucial factors inducing material degradation, highly stable materials are required. In the present work, various properties of poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) exposed to heat and gamma rays in air are instrumentally investigated. If PEEK is aged by heat and gamma irradiation in air, chemical bond scission, oxidation, crosslinking, and char formation occur as competing mechanisms. The temperature plays a decisive role in degradation, while the irradiation accelerates it. The mechanical properties deteriorate much earlier than the dielectric properties with the progress of aging. This means that the mechanical properties can be an important condition monitoring factor compared to the dielectric properties for PEEK-insulated apparatus or cables. If PEEK is aged severely, its electrical conductivity increases dramatically, whereas both real and imaginary parts of complex dielectric permittivity decrease, showing a marked contrast to many industrially important polymeric insulating materials. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

© 2017 IEEE. Nano-sized magnesium oxide or magnesia has been reported to be useful for suppressing the space charge accumulation when it is added in epoxy resin. However, the addition of nano-magnesia to epoxy resin decreases the glass transition temperature (Tg) signficantly, which may limit industrial applications of magnesia/epoxy nanocomposites. In this work, nanomagnesia particles with an average size of 52 nm and micro-magnesia with an average size of 3.1 pm were mixed in a commercially available bisphenol-A epoxy resin. The weight ratio of nano- and micro-fillers in each composite was changed, while the total content of the two fillers was fixed at 5 weight%. As a result, it has become clear that the addition of micro-sized magnesia fillers to magnesia/epoxy nanocomposites recovers Tg back to its original high temperature. Then, a dc electric field of 30 kV/mm was applied to the samples for 20 minutes at various temperatures from 40 to 200 °C and space charge distributions were measured by the pulsed electro-Acoustic method. The results show that space charge accumulates in both vicinities of the cathode and the anode with the same polarities as those of the nearby electrodes when the temperature is 80 °C or below. However, space charges become hetero and are observed only in the vicinity of the cathode at 140 °C and above. These homocharges and heterocharges become very small when the weight content of nano-sized fillers increases, which is industrially very important. Both complex dielectric permittivity and electrical conductivity also decrease with the increase in the content of nanofillers.

© 2016 IEEE.The ability of locating a degraded portion in a double-core cable insulated with silicone rubber (SiR) or in a coaxial cable insulated with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) was compared between a system based on frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) being developed by the authors and a commercially available system called line resonance analysis (LIRA). Both the FDR and the LIRA methods cannot detect the degradation of SiR before its further use becomes uncommend-able in a nuclear power plant. However, for location trials of the degraded portion in the LDPE coaxial cable, the FDR method showed a higher sensitivity and a better resolution than LIRA.

© 2016 IEEE.The effect of addition of nano-sized magnesia fillers to epoxy resin on the distribution of space charges is examined at various temperatures from 40 to 200 °C. Although the spatial distribution of space charges in the sample varies depending on temperature and filler content, magnesia nanocomposites exhibit a smaller amount of homocharge near the cathode than the unfilled epoxy resin at 40 and 80 °C. At 120 and 140 °C, although the polarity of space charge in the vicinity of the cathode becomes positive or hetero, its amount becomes smaller with the increase in content of magnesia nanofillers. This finding agrees well with the fact that magnesia nanofillers effectively suppress the formation of space charge in low-density or crosslinked polyethylene. As another distinctive feature, it has become clear that the addition of magnesia nanofillers effectively suppresses carrier transport, especially at high temperatures.

Gamma-ray induced changes occurring in ethylene-propylene-diene copolymer (EPDM) were analyzed through its complex permittivity spectra. First, four different processes, namely, instantaneous polarization, hopping of ions, segmental relaxation, and dc conduction are found to contribute to the complex permittivity. By fitting the spectra to theoretical equations, it has become clear that the instantaneous polarization and ionic hopping become active by the irradiation, indicating that generation of oxidative products and mobile ions and occurrence of chain scission are induced by gamma rays. Furthermore, since both the thermal expansion and the contribution of the segmental relaxation to the permittivity become less with an increase in dose, it is assumed that crosslinking is induced by the gamma irradiation.

The authors have demonstrated that the estimation of the precise locations of points in cables aged thermally or mechanically or by the irradiation of gamma rays is possible by a combination of frequency domain reflectometry and inverse fast Fourier transform. This paper examines how this ability of fault location depends on the type, structure, and insulation material of the cable, using several kinds of polymer insulated cables such as a triple core cable insulated with flame-retardant ethylene propylene diene copolymer, a dual core cable insulated with silicone rubber, a dual core cable insulated with crosslinked polyolefin (XLPO), a coaxial cylindrical cable insulated with low density polyethylene, and a flat cord insulated by polyvinyl chloride (PVC). As a result, for cables with lengths from 16 to 72 m, the maximum sensitivity is attained when the highest frequency of the inputted electromagnetic waves is 1.0 GHz or higher for coaxial cables, but around 300 to 800 MHz for dual or triple core cables. For the location attempt of the position heated by a heater, cables insulated with PVC give higher signal intensities than those insulated with XLPO.

The oxidation process induced in ethylene-propylene-diene (EPDM) copolymer by gamma irradiation was simulated by solving equations on chemical reactions and gas diffusion rates. As a result, distributions of oxidative products and gases and changes in material properties were clarified. All the oxidative products such as ketones, alcohols, and carboxylic acids, crosslinks between molecular chains, and chain scissions in EPDM increase with irradiation and they show concave spatial distributions inside the sample sheets. The simulation results demonstrates that EPDM becomes hard when it was irradiated by gamma rays and the increase in hardness is more significant at the surface of the sample sheet than its inside. Moreover, it was found that a low diffusion coefficient of oxygen in EPDM leads to the appearance of a clearer diffusion-limited regime of degradation. These simulation results are in good agreement with experimental results.

Electric cables play important roles for supplying power and for transmitting information and control signals. Therefore, their degradation may cause a serious problem. Silicone rubber (SiR) is widely used for electrical insulation in safety-related cables in nuclear power plants. In this paper, the ability of locating a degraded portion in a duplex cable insulated with SiR was compared between a system based on frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) being developed by the authors and a commercially available system called line resonance analysis (LIRA). Reflecting the fact that the FDR system can expand the measurement frequency range, FDR shows a higher sensitivity and a better resolution than LIRA. However, both methods cannot detect the degradation of SiR before its further use becomes uncommendable.

Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polypropylene (PP) exhibit a photoluminescence (PL) band, which emits photons with an energy of around 4.3 eV when excited by photons with energies around 6.4 eV. The origin of this PL band has been assigned to α, β-unsaturated carbonyl. In this paper, the appearance of PL was examined for four kinds of polyolefin and four kinds of biodegradable polymers. As a result, it has become clear that all the polymers show a PL band with a PL excitation spectrum and a PL spectrum similar to those of the above-mentioned PL band in LDPE and PP. The decay profiles observed for these PL bands indicate that they are fluorescence. Furthermore, the intensity of the PL becomes weak for all the four polyolefin samples and the polylatic acid sample if ultraviolet photons were irradiated to the sample. Quantum chemical calculations carried out by assuming a model of α, β-unsaturated carbonyl have revealed that the PL originates in the π* to π transition of electrons in the carbon-carbon double bond.

Most electric cables installed in nuclear power plants use organic polymers for their electrical insulation. Regarding this, degradation of the polymers could lead to fatal accidents. However, no truly reliable diagnostic methods that can detect the degradation of polymer insulation in electric cables have been established. Therefore, development of a reliable diagnostic method is very important. The present research shows that scanning probe microscopy can be a good tool to evaluate microscopic changes induced on the surface of flame-retardant ethylene propylene diene copolymer by its degradation.

Electric cables play important roles for supplying power and for transmitting information and control signals. Therefore, their degradation may cause a serious problem. Silicone rubber (SiR) is widely used for electrical insulation in safety-related cables in nuclear power plants. In this paper, the ability of locating a degraded portion in a duplex cable insulated with SiR was compared between a system based on frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) being developed by the authors and a commercially available system called line resonance analysis (LIRA). Reflecting the fact that the FDR system can expand the measurement frequency range, FDR shows a higher sensitivity and a better resolution than LIRA. However, both methods cannot detect the degradation of SiR before its further use becomes uncommendable.

Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polypropylene (PP) exhibit a photoluminescence (PL) band, which emits photons with an energy of around 4.3 eV when excited by photons with energies around 6.4 eV. The origin of this PL band has been assigned to α, β -unsaturated carbonyl. In this paper, the appearance of PL was examined for four kinds of polyolefin and four kinds of biodegradable polymers. As a result, it has become clear that all the polymers show a PL band with a PL excitation spectrum and a PL spectrum similar to those of the above-mentioned PL band in LDPE and PP. The decay profiles observed for these PL bands indicate that they are fluorescence. Furthermore, the intensity of the PL becomes weak for all the four polyolefin samples and the polylatic acid sample if ultraviolet photons were irradiated to the sample. Quantum chemical calculations carried out by assuming a model of α, β -unsaturated carbonyl have revealed that the PL originates in the π∗to π transition of electrons in the carbon-carbon double bond.

Flame-retardant ethylene-propylene-diene copolymer (FR-EPDM) with the same additives as those used in nuclear power plants was analyzed by terahertz (THz) and infrared (IR) absorption spectroscopy, before and after the irradiation by Trays. As a result, it has become clear that THz spectroscopy can indicate the degradation of the FR-EPDM samples better than IR spectroscopy. Namely, the THz spectroscopy can indicate the oxidation of the samples, which is difficult by IR spectroscopy.

We aged silicone rubber, which is widely used for electrical insulation of cables in nuclear power plants under various conditions. The surface of each sample was measured by an indenter and a scanning probe microscope (SPM) for non-destructive diagnosis. As a result, it has become clear that the surface of silicone rubber becomes hard with the progress of degradation in both cases of thermal aging and simultaneous aging by heat and radiation. The indenter modulus shows a good correlation with the elongation at break (EAB). On the other hand, the delay of phase angle measured by SPM exhibits a rather low correlation with EAB. Through the results of thermal analyses, it seems that the thermal aging without radiation induces cross-linking first, which is followed by bond break. However, bond breakage seems predominant over cross-linking in the simultaneous aging with heat and radiation.

Cables installed in nuclear power plants are subjected to thermal burden and radioactive rays. Regarding this, if we want to monitor the integrity of a cable in a nuclear power plant continuously, we have to do measurements while the cable is heated and irradiated. In this research, we obtained frequency domain reflectometry signals for a 50-m long cable insulated with flame-retardant ethylene propylene diene copolymer (FR-EPDM) installed in an environment where heat and radiation were given simultaneously. Then, we separated signals originating in the degradation of the insulation from those due to heat and radiation. This result indicates that the separation of the signal arising from the degradation of insulation from other signals due to heat and radiation is in principle possible at least as far as FR-EPDM insulated cables are concerned.

The aging mechanism of silicone rubber, which is important for electrical insulation of cables, is examined from many aspects such as instrumental, chemical, electrical, and mechanical analyses. As a result, it has become clear that silicone rubber degrades by forming crosslinked structures via the formation of abundant siloxane bonds.

Flame-retardant ethylene propylene diene copolymer (FR-EPDM) and silicone rubber (SiR) were aged by heat with or without concurrent irradiation of gamma rays. For these samples, chemiluminescence (CL) and infrared absorption spectra were measured. Although the CL intensity decreases with an increase in total dose of gamma rays both in FR-EPDM and SiR, this negative dose-dependence is weaker in FR-EPDM than in SiR. This is reasonable, since CL appears when a substance is oxidized. Namely, the CL intensity becomes weak if the sample was already oxidized. While FR-EPDM is an organic polymer that can be oxidized easily, SiR is an inorganic polymer with siloxane bonds. Moreover, carbonyl groups appear when FR-EPDM is degraded, while SiR forms mainly a crosslinked structure by bridging two silicons by one oxygen when it is irradiated by gamma rays. Such differences in degradation mechanism between two insulating polymers are reflected on their CL properties.

The authors have demonstrated that the estimation of the precise locations of points in cables aged thermally or mechanically or by the irradiation of gamma rays is possible by a combination of frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) and inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). This paper examines how this ability of fault location depends on the type and structure of the cable, using several kinds of polymer insulated cables such as triple core cables insulated with flame-retardant ethylene propylene diene copolymer (FR-EPDM), dual core cables insulated with silicone rubber (SiR) or crosslinked polyolefin (XLPO), and coaxial cylindrical cables insulated with low density polyethylene (LDPE). As a result, for cables with lengths of 16 to 72 m, the maximum sensitivity is attained when the highest frequency of the inputted electromagnetic waves is 1.0 GHz or higher for coaxial cables, but around 600 to 800 MHz for dual or triple core cables.

This paper demonstrates that it is possible to locate very precisely a point showing a high temperature in a polymer insulated cable. The method is based on frequency domain reflectometry and inverse fast Fourier transform. The cables tested are a coaxial communication cable with a length of 32 m insulated by low density polyethylene and a flat in-house electric cord with a length of 21 m insulated by polyvinyl chloride. The cable or cord was heated at different positions for different lengths. The ratio between the powers of electromagnetic waves incident to and reflected from the cable was measured using a network analyzer in a frequency range from one to several hundred MHz or 1.5 GHz. The spectra obtained by the measurements were then analyzed by inverse Fourier transform. As a result, the position exhibiting a temperature higher than the adjacent points can be located with a spatial resolution as short as 2.5 cm. It was also confirmed that the sensitivity or spatial resolution can be improved by an increase of the highest measurement frequency.

Since electric cables play important roles such as power supply and information transmission, their degradation may cause serious problems. We have been trying to monitor the degradation of cable insulation by measuring the magnitude and phase angle of the impedance as a function of frequency in a very wide frequency range. The cables tested were insulated with ?ame-retardant ethylene propylene rubber or special heat-resistant polyvinyl chloride. They were partially damaged by peeling off their insulation layers, or partially aged by heat and gamma-rays. The impedance and phase angle were measured from a terminal of the cable. The difference in impedance between the damaged and sound cables is made clear by fast Fourier transform analyses, from which the damaged portion can be located. It can be clearly shown that this method has the potential ability to detect the degradation of cable insulation induced by physical damage, gamma-ray irradiation, and thermal aging. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 183(1): 18, 2013; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.22384

Since electric cables play important roles such as power supply and information transmission, their degradation may cause a serious problem. We have been trying to monitor the degradation of cable insulation by measuring the magnitude and phase angle of impedance as a function of frequency in a very wide frequency range. The cables tested were insulated with flame-retardant ethylene propylene rubber or special heat-resistant polyvinyl chloride. They were damaged partially by peeling off their insulation layers, or aged partially by heat and γ-rays. Impedance and phase angle were measured from a terminal of the cable. The difference in impedance between the damaged and sound cables becomes clear by fast Fourier transform analyses, from which the damaged portion can be located. It can be clearly shown that this method has a potential ability to detect the degradation of cable insulation induced by physical damage, γ-ray irradiation, and thermal aging. © 2012 The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan.