This paper has the aim of providing a view of a lively debated topic which has broad impact on the design of electrical apparatus and new insulating materials, that is, the interaction between space charge and aging processes of polymeric insulation. Aging models developed in recent decades that consider explicitly or implicitly the contribution of space charge to insulation degradation, under both dc and ac voltage, are dealt with, with the intention to point out their range of validity. Some conventional phenomenological models that have been used for much more than two decades without referring to space charges can be exploited to account for electrical field and activation energy modification due to space charge. These, together with models conceived considering space charges as the driving force for aging, are especially examined. In addition, recent models that disregard the action of space charge as an ageing factor, but consider space charge as the consequence of degradation processes are also discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.