Abstract
A low density polyethylene resin (PE) sample degraded through partial discharge was investigated by pyrolysis gas chromatography (Py-GC). The evolved gas volume was found to increase with an increase in the degree of oxidative degradation. The results were correlated to the characteristic peak of carboxylic acids in the infrared spectra. In addition, carbon monoxide (CO) was detected as a pyrolysis gas from a degraded PE fiber of 80μm diameter by ozone oxidation. Moreover, the volume of the pyrolysis gas (CO) from the opaque PE treated with osmium tetraoxide was shown to be equivalent to that from the PE degraded by the discharge for 30 hours. These results suggest the Py-GC to be useful to evaluate the oxidative degradation of electrical insulating materials such as cables.
