Enhancing High-Temperature Aeronautic Cables with Extruded Perfluoroalkoxy: Insights from Partial Discharge and Polarization Current Analysis

Developing high-temperature (HT) cables for aeronautics and aerospace becomes essential due to increased power needs and elevated temperatures. Researchers are exploring extrudable materials, to mitigate internal air voids, thus, reducing the risk of potential partial discharges (PDs). Perfluoroalkoxy (PFA) has been highlighted as a promising material. This study examines two PFA extruded cable designs differing in insulation layers, single and co-extrusion with a semi-conductive (SC) layer, both maintaining identical PFA insulation thickness. The research involves measurements of Partial Discharge Inception Voltage (PDIV) at various temperatures and pressures, in addition to Polarization Current (PC) measurements under a controlled temperature gradient. This work demonstrates the effectiveness of PFA extruded HT cables in improving PDIV and reducing PC in the co-extrusion design with inner SC layer.