Detection of overheated parts in low-density polyethylene by terahertz absorption spectroscopy and imaging

Overheating during the manufacturing process of a cross-linked polyethylene-insulated cable often induces brownish resin, which may become a starting point of breakdown and water trees. In this study, an XLPE sheet was overheated and cut to many pieces of squares with various sizes from 0.5×0.5 to 10×10 mm2. Then, each piece was sandwiched between two sheets of low-density polyethylene and its absorption intensity was measured at terahertz (THz) frequencies. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of absorption was measured in the form of a two-dimensional image by scanning the sample. As a result, it has become clear that the whole absorption increases in a range from 0.5 to 5.0 THz when the volume of overheated part becomes bigger. Moreover, the distribution of overheated parts can be visualized by the THz absorption imaging.