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Surface Resistivity of Silicone Rubber
S Formulations Tested in Room Ambient
I Conditions: The case of silicone rubber
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formulations with and without filler
materials
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Authors: Aviti Thadei & Dr. Alexander
D Kyaruzi
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• The objective of this paper is to measure the
S surface resistivity of silicone rubber
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formulations used for manufacturing
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housings and sheds of composite polymeric
insulators. The objective has two parts: (1)
O to manufacture the samples, and (2) to test
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the samples.
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• Test specimens were
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– Industrially made samples.
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• With these formulations there was silicone

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rubber with and without filler materials
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R • Testing conditions were room ambient
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temperature (22˚C - 25˚C) and humidity
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(32% – 40%).
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• The testing voltage was supplied by an
D Electrometer.
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R • Resistivity values are shown in Fig 1.
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T • S1 and S2 show differing values, although
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both are not stable.
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• S481 and S482 show differing but stable
D values.
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R • SF1 and SF2 show similar values which are
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stable
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• PS shows stable values which are lower
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Resistivity Results
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D Fig.1: Silicone rubber samples surface resistivity variation with time for the first
50 minutes. The conditions of the test were room temperature, pressure and
S humidity i.e. temperature = 22 ˚C – 25 ˚C, humidity = 32%-40 %.

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Table 1: Average Surface Resistivity and Surface
V Resistance Values from Resistivity Measurements
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S Surface Surface
Material
I Name Resistivity Resista
Sample
T (Ω/square) nce (Ω)
Y S 2 x 1017 4 x 1015
Silicone
SF 4 x 1017 8 x 1015
O rubber
F PS 2 x 1017 4 x 1015

D These values were obtained 5 minutes after starting

S energizing the samples
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R • Differing values for samples S1, S2, S481
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and S482 rubbers could be due to contact
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prblem.
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O • Samples retained charges implying

F polarization by the DC voltage and higher
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relaxation times of the rubbers.
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V • If the dc energization was done for longer
E than 50 minutes the resistivity values
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continued to increase up to the point that
I the data obtained was not useful.
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• Fig. 1 shows that the empirical current that
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traverses the surface of the insulating
O materials does not decay exponentially but
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rather as an exponential power of the time
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as by equation
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I = Iot-n
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I Future work
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R • To fit the data obtained into the equation
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suggested by (Dakin, 2006).
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T • To measure surface resistances of aged
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silicone rubber samples and compare with
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the values of new samples.
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