An investigation of the potential of polypropylene and its blends for use in recyclable high voltage cable insulation systems

Most modern extruded high voltage cables employ cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) as the insulation material. XLPE has excellent thermo-mechanical properties, is relatively cheap and has a low dielectric loss, which make it an ideal material for this application. Unfortunately, XLPE is not easily recycled at the end of its lifetime leading to questions concerning its long-term sustainability. A previous investigation in this series considered the potential of a range of ethylene-based systems to provide suitable recyclable alternatives to XLPE. Whilst blending could allow systems having similar thermo-mechanical and electrical properties to XLPE to be designed, it was not possible to obtain better performance than XLPE using these systems. Polypropylene offers, potentially, a route to improved insulation systems by virtue of its higher melting point and excellent dielectric properties. However, traditional isotactic polypropylenes have always had the problem of being too brittle for inclusion into practical cable designs. Recently a broad range of propylene co-polymers having improved ductility have become available, which may prove more suitable. The current study compares traditional isotactic and syndiotactic polypropylenes to a range of commercially available propylene co-polymers and focuses on their morphology, thermal, thermo-mechanical and electrical properties. These parameters were then taken together to identify the most suitable candidate materials for future cable applications. The use of blending as a means to further optimise the various material properties was also explored.