Introduction
Silicone elastomers of all types are known to be excellent dielectrics. They possess many desirable properties that make their application to electrical insulation successful. In outdoor high voltage applications, electrical insulation often experience stresses that can be withstood by only a few materials. These stresses are listed in Table 1. Of the stresses listed, silicone elastomers, when used as a housing material in outdoor high voltage insulation applications, are normally capable of withstanding all but the electrical stresses that give rise to partial discharge, dry band arcing, and corona discharge on the surface of the insulation, as all lead to the physical erosion of the material, and insulation failure. Of the discharges, dry band arcing is considered the most damaging.