DC inclined-plane tracking and erosion test of insulating materials

Abstract

The paper reviews previous work on the DC inclined plane test and suggests equivalent DC voltage levels in parallel to AC voltage in the ASTM inclined plane tracking and erosion test. The aim of this work is to provide a basis for standardizing the inclined plane test for DC voltage. Round robin tests done in five laboratories on five specimens of a silicone rubber material were done with the purpose of establishing appropriate ratios by which the equivalent DC voltages can be determined with respect to the corresponding AC voltages. These levels were determined as 67% and 87%, for +DC and -DC respectively, of the AC initial tracking voltage, and for practical purposes, these levels are rounded to 70 and 90%.