Effect of superhydrophobicity on surface damage of silicone rubber under AC voltage

In this paper, the influence of superhydrophobicity on the surface damage of silicone rubber is studied. On a common silicone rubber surface, a droplet can become elongated, and arc discharge induced by the droplet can cause tracking on the silicone rubber surface. However, for a superhydrophobic silicone rubber surface, a droplet can leave the silicone rubber due to the low adhesion of the superhydrophobic surface. Accordingly, arc discharge caused by the droplet does not occur, and the surface of the silicone rubber is not affected. Results demonstrate that using a superhydrophobic surface has a significant effect on limiting the surface damage of silicone rubber

Effect of superhydrophobicity on flashover characteristics of silicone rubber under wet conditions

Superhydrophobic surface has aroused much interest among researchers due to the low adhesion between water and a substrate surface. This study focuses on the influence of the low adhesion of superhydrophobic surface on flashover characteristics under wet conditions. The flashover experiments were conducted under two different wet conditions. One was placing a constant volume droplet on the silicone rubber. The other one was that silicone rubber was wetted by salt fog. It was found that the adhesion between water droplets and a superhydrophobic surface was very low because of the presence of air cushion. Accordingly, water droplets were easy to slide on a superhydrophobic surface under the effect of electric filed. The sliding of droplets could provide a longer insulation path before flashover occurred. Results showed that flashover voltage could be improved greatly on a superhydrophobic silicone rubber surface