Accelerating Aging of Transmission Line Porcelain Suspension Insulators by Autoclaving

Porcelain suspension insulators aged for 1, 5 and 10 years on Korean transmission lines and new insulators are tested for autoclave expansion. The compressive strength of the insulators aged in an autoclave with conditions of $250\;^{\circ}C$ and at 20 atm for 30 minutes, was about $7.6\;kgf/mm^2$, which is close to that measured on insulators aged for 10 years in the field. From simulation results, the cement displacement changed linearly with temperature. At a temperature of $200\;^{\circ}C$, the shear stress was approximately $7\;kgf/mm^2$; a stress that is brought about by a 0.07 % expansion of the cement. It is evident that the cement would fracture at a 0.07 % expansion, because the cement has about 7 to $9\;kgf/mm^2$ flexure strength. A turning point in the shear stress with mechanical load occurred at 0.02 % cement expansion. From an analysis of the porcelain body it is shown that there is sufficient margin of strength to guard against fracture of the porcelain body even for a cement expansion more than 0.12 %.