Preparation and electrical properties of 4-acetoxystyrene grafted polypropylene for HVDC cable insulation

Polypropylene (PP) is considered to be a potential eco-friendly cable insulation material. However, space charge accumulation in PP under high electric stress limits its application for HVDC cable. In this paper, PP was modified with 4-acetoxystyrene (AOS) by melt grafting to improve electric properties. The molecular structure of the polypropylene-graft-4-acetoxystyrene (PP-g-AOS) was characterized by means of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR). The effects of temperature, screw speed, time, initiator content and monomer content on grafting degree of PP-g-AOS were investigated. Furthermore, the influence of grafting degree of PP-g-AOS on space charge suppression, volume resistivity and dc breakdown field strength was investigated. The FT-IR result showed that AOS was successfully grafted onto PP. It was found that under the proper grafting conditions, the obtained PP-g-AOS exhibited a maximum grafting degree of 1.31%. Moreover, PP-g-AOS with grafting degree of 1.14% can suppress space charge efficiently, and increase both volume resistivity and dc breakdown strength. This provides a new idea for the study of polypropylene HVDC cable insulation.