Public Disclosure Authorized

Energy Department Note No. 62

INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Public Disclosure Authorized

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION

ENERGY DEPARTMENT

ENERGY NOTES

SURVEY OF THE USE OF PORCELAIN AND GLASS AS THE DIELECTRIC MATERIAL

Public Disclosure Authorized

FOR TRANSMI S SI ON LINE SUSPENSION INSULATORS

J a n u a r y 1986
Public Disclosure Authorized

Energy P o l i c y and Advisory D i v i s i o n

Energy Department

T h i s p a p e r i s one of a s e r i e s i s s u e d by t h e Energy Department f o r t h e

i n f o r m a t i o n and g u i d a n c e of Bank s t a f f and o t h e r s who may be c o n c e r n e d w i t h
p r o j e c t s and p r a c t i c e s of t h e World Bank i n t h e e n e r g y s e c t o r . It i s n o t an
o f f i c i a l s t a t e m e n t of Bank p o l i c y and t h e r e f o r e may not be q u o t e d o r
r e f e r e n c e d a s such.
 SURVEY OF THE USE OF PORCELAIN AND GLASS AS THE DIELECTRIC MATERIAL

FOR TRANSMISSION LINE SUSPENSION INSULATORS

ABSTRACT

The c h o i c e between g l a s s and p o r c e l a i n a s a d i e l e c t r i c m a t e r i a l i s a

q u e s t i o n t o be addressed by d e s i g n e r s and o p e r a t o r s of power t r a n s m i s s i o n
lines. T h i s survey i n d i c a t e s t h a t , while f o r most u s e s t h e two m a t e r i a l s a r e
e s s e n t i a l l y e q u i v a l e n t , a p p l i c a t i o n c o n s i d e r a t i o n s may l e a d o p e r a t o r s t o
m a r g i n a l l y p r e f e r one m a t e r i a l over t h e o t h e r . The survey i n c l u d e s a
d i s c u s s i o n of a p p l i c a t i o n on d i r e c t - c u r r e n t l i n e s which, while involving a
d i f f e r e n t s e t of c o n s i d e r a t i o n s , s t i l l does n o t i n d i c a t e a c l e a r advantage f o r
e i t h e r material.
 FOREWORD

T h i s survey was commissioned by t h e Energy Department i n response t o

r e q u e s t s from Bank s t a f f and borrowers f o r guidance with r e s p e c t t o t h e
s e l e c t i o n of p o r c e l a i n o r g l a s s f o r t h e d i e l e c t r i c m a t e r i a l f o r t r a n s m i s s i c ~ n
l i n e suspension i n s u l a t o r s . The survey i n d i c a t e s t h a t t h e two m a t e r i a l s a r e
t e c h n i c a l l y e q u i v a l e n t , but u s e r s may continue t o p r e f e r one over t h e o t h e r
because of s t a n d a r d i z a t i o n o r a p p l i c a t i o n environment.

T h i s e s s e n t i a l l y r e a f f i r m s t h e Bank's p o l i c y w i t h r e s p e c t t o choice
of i n s u l a t o r m a t e r i a l , which i s t o encourage borrowers t o prepare a l t e r n a t i v e
d e s i g n s which w i l l permit t h e u s e of e i t h e r m a t e r i a l i n t h e i n t e r e s t of
e f f i c i e n c y and economy, but t o r e s p e c t a borrower's p r e f e r e n c e f o r one
m a t e r i a l o r t h e o t h e r i n c a s e s whele t h e r e a r e s u b s t a n t i a t e d and q u a n t i f i e d
r e a s o n s f o r t h i s preference.

The r e p o r t n o t e s t h a t g l a s s i n s u l a t o r s may n o t be s u i t a b l e where

exposed t o p o s s i b l e p h y s i c a l damage such a s from f i r e a r m s ; i n a l l o t h e r
r e s p e c t s g l a s s and p o r c e l a i n may be considered t e c h n i c a l l y e q u i v a l e n t .
However, i t should be n o t e d t h a t some o p e r a t o r s p r e f e r g l a s s even i n c a s e s
where t h e r e is exposure t o p h y s i c a l damage because of t h e e a s e of i d e n t i f y i n g
damaged u n i t s , a p o i n t n o t made i n t h e r e p o r t .
A Ccmparisan of Porcelain Versus Glass
as the D i e l e c t r i c mterial for
Swpensim Insulators and Haw These
Q?aracteristicsHave Affected the
Camm-cial U s e of Such Insulators

A Study Perfanred for

T h e World Bank

Study Directed by :

Ian S. Grant
POWER TECHNOIDGIES, INC.
Schenecctady, New Yark
November, 1985
Power Technologies, Inc.

Contents

Page
Introduction
International Practices in Use of Suspension
Insulators
United States of America
Canada
South America
Japan
Europe
General Comments
Review of Published Information
AC Versus DC Behavior of Insulators
Conclusions
References (grouped by generic topic)
Attachment A - Properties of Porcelain and Glass
Introduction
In seeking to understand the considerable difference of
opinion as to the suitability of either glass or porcelain
suspension insulators throughout the world, not only the techni-
cal merits and cost of such insulators but also the effects of
history, industrial politics, personal politics, and nationalism
must be considered.
Historically, the earliest power lines in the United States
and some of the early ones in Europe used glass since that was
really the only material available. Although it was of very poor
quality, being little more than bottle glass, it was appreciably
better than the porcelain which was available at that time. In
his very excellent book "Porcelain Insulators and How they Grew,"
Brent Mills states that in the 1890's there was absolutely no
electric transmission as it is known today, only local islands of
electric service. There were glass insulators - not very good
ones - but they served reasonably well to insulate and support
light duty telephone and telegraph wires and the early experimen-
tal beginnings of electrical transmission. They were made of the
cheapest kind of glass. There is no indication that any were
tested prior to shipment, the only test being whether or not they
fell apart in service, or punctured, or were cracked so badly
that they couldn't serve their purpose. Mills goes on to relate
in other parts of his book how Fred Locke, generally acknowledged
as the father of the porcelain industry in the United States,
came to start his factory in Victor, New York. Mr. Locke recog-
nized the problems of the early insulators as being those as-
sociated with poor porcelain, and set about to do something about
it. Since that time, at about the turn of the century, the
production and use of porcelain insulators has grown world wide.
Museums of porcelain insulators, for example in the United
States and Japan, contain specimens of the early efforts to pro-
duce a suitable suspension insulator, and it can be seen that the
initial premise and physical parameters have changed very little.
There is, for instance, in the 1922 edition of the Transactions
of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers a paper which
refers to the "Standard 5-3/4 x 10 inch Suspension Insulator."
These dimensions, which are virtually the same as those used
worldwide today, came about historically for reasons which are
not germane to this discussion.
It is the purpose of this discussion to review the
characteristics of modern porcelain and glass insulators and the
difficulties and problems associated with them. The information
available in each instance, the specific problems, and the at-
titudes of different parts of the world will now be explored.
International Practices in Use of Suspension Insulators

United States of America.

In contrast to many other countries there is no nationalized
electrical industry in the United States of America. There are,
of course, several agencies of the federal government which exer-
cise considerable influence on the electric power industry by
publishing opinions and results for consideration by others. The
two major agencies which fit this category are the Bonneville
Power Administration headquartered in Portland, Oregon, which
serves the far western part of the United States of America, and
the Tennessee Valley Authority which covers an area in the
Southeast. There are also various regional and quasi governmen-
tal agencies such as the Los Angeles Department of Water and
Power which are arms of a political entity, in this case the City
of Los Angeles, paramount in their own area but with little in-
fluence elsewhere. In general terms, most electric power trans-
mission and distribution in the United States of America is con-
trolled by large corporations whose financial aspects are in-
fluenced by governmental regulation but whose engineering deci-
sions are not.
In some cases, it may be necessary for the engineering
department of such utilities to defend themselves against charges
of not buying the lowest cost available equipment on price alone
since, as a regulated industry, their rates are based on total
invested capital. In general, however an analysis by engineering
management showing that the present worth of first costs plus
maintenance of the more expensive equipment is lower than that of
the lower first cost equipment satisfies all concerned. As a re-
sult of the relative independence of one utility from another,
and especially of their independence from any direct governmental
direction, the use or non-use of any specific item is the product
of independent and relatively local thinking.
In preparing this report, inquiries were made into the
practices of a number of the larger utilities. Since the process
of obtaining an official response from a utility tends to be

lengthy, the information obtained is not attributed. However,

the information obtained is clearly in accord with generally
known facts and procedures, and it was only for the purpose of
reconfirming such facts and procedures that the inquiries were
made.
If it were proper to express the attitude of the entire
United States electrical industry with respect to suspension in-
sulators in one sentence, it would be to the effect that por-
celain suspension insulators are acceptable and glass suspension
insulators are not. Obviously this is an over-simplification of
the actual situation, but since the use of glass insulators is
very infrequent and generally limited to small sections of in-
dividual transmission systems, it does express the attitude of
most of the engineering professiona1.s who make the relevant tech-

nical decisions.
 Thus the viewpoint on porcelain suspension insulators is
that there is no porcelain suspension insulator problem in the
United States. This does not mean that there are no instances of
failure of suspension insulators in the United States, or even of
the dropping of a transmission line, but rather that the dif-
ficulties associated with other causes such as violent weather,
vehicular damage to support structures near highways, and
sabotage, are considerably more frequent than simple insulator
failures.
Beyond any question, the major reason why glass suspension
insulators are not used extensively in the United States is that
there are a very large number of firearms owned by the general
population, and that hunting with firearms is very extensively
practiced. Although there are a certain number of restrictions
concerning the possession and use of hand guns there are vir-
tually no laws restricting the possession and use of shotguns and
rifles. This results in a large number of persons abroad on the
land carrying firearms who find respite from the frustrations of
"hunting but not finding" in shooting at insulators. For those
who have witnessed gunshot tests, the difference between hitting
a porcelain suspension insulator with a bullet or a shotgun pel-
let and a similar assault on a glass suspension insulator is
spectacular. In all but the rarest cases on1.y a chip of por-
celain is dislodged from an insulator of that material, while the
glass suspension insulator disappears in a cloud of small glass .-

particles. In other words it is a "satisfying" experience to

shoot down a glass insulator and a "frustrating" one to do so on
a porcelain insulator. It is this difference in behavior, as
trivial a point as it may seem to people in other countries,
which comes close to excluding glass insulators from the United
States. Several specific cases illustrate the magnitude of the
problem.
Perhaps the most significant is that involving the
Consolidated Edison Company of New York. In 1975 this utility
equipped five 345 kV transmission lines with glass insulators,
with a total of 70,000 units were installed at that time or
shortly thereafter. Records subsequently compiled by their main-
tenance department show that between 80 and 90% of all the in-
sulator failures and line problems on the entire system have been
associated with these five lines. A recent report indicates that
some 46,000 of the 70,000 glass units have now been replaced at a
cost of some $50 per unit. It is apparent that in the areas con-
cerned it is impractical to use glass suspension insulators.
Further, it would seem reasonable to expect that, as a result of
the above mentioned difficulties, glass suspension insulators
will not be used anywhere else on the Consolidated Edison system,
even in areas where vandalism would not be expected.
 Difficulties very similar to those described above have been
reported on the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power System
in the western United States. A section of a 500 kV line which
transverses the Mojave Desert has been a major headache to the
Maintenance Department. The vandalism in this area has been of
sufficient magnitude to require that the line often be taken out
of service for repair at very considerable expense to the
utility. The circumstances are such that the cost of replacement
power which much be purchased when the glass suspension insulator
line has been shut down for repair is on the order of 7.5 mils
per kilowatt hour, while the displaced power costs only 2.5 mils
per kilowatt hour.
As the result of the cost of shutting down this line, the
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Maintenance Department
makes every effort to replace the broken insulators while the
line is energized. This procedure has caused some difficulty
with the maintenance workers, because of a tendency for the ap-
parently undamaged glass insulators to explode spontaneously. It
is understood that to the knowledge of the Los Angeles Department
of Water and Power no one has been injured by these explosions,
but that the possibility of such injury is of great concern. A
maintenance information bulletin is published by the Bonneville
Power Administration which cautions against the possibility of a
string of glass insulators, which has had the skirts shot off or
been comparably damaged, separating spontaneously. The recomrnen-
dation is that temporary safety rigging to relieve the working
tension be installed prior to actual removal of the string.
Another company which has used glass insulators in the past
but which has been forced to replace them with porcelain is the
Detroit Edison Company of Detroit, Michigan. One relatively
short line was equipped with glass insulators at a time when
there was a shortage of porcelain insulators in the United
States. Records indicate a vandalism problem which caused this

particular line to have the "worst record of any on the Detroit

Edison system."
In an incident in 1985 in Georgia Power Company, a question
arose as to why some polymeric units had been used in a specific
location without proper notification being given. The resgonse
was that polymeric insulators had not been installed. The slim
appearance of the insulator string which had made it seem that a
polymetric insulator had been installed was the result of an en-
tire string of actual glass suspension insulators having their
skirts shot off.
Although the major problem with glass suspension insulators
in the United States is the result of vandalism, there are also
some instances where they have proved unsatisfactory for other
reasons. Such a situation has occurred in the State of Florida
located on the extreme southeast corner of the United States. In
this area, close to the Atlantic Ocean, glass suspension in-
sulators have become severely etched as a result of exposure to
the environment. It is assumed that the environment in this case
means a heavy salt encrustation as a result of the proximity of
the ocean and exposure to the infrared and ultraviolet rays of
the sun.
A further technical point is that there is a tendency in the
United States to use surface gradients which are higher than
those used elsewhere in the world. This condition again produces
a greater problem for the toughened glass surface than for the
glazed porcelain surface.
There have been no manufacturers of glass insulators in the
United States since the Corning Glass Company stopped such
production in the early 1940's. There are, however, a number of
glass suspensions assembled in the United States using glass
shells manufactured in France.

Canada
In an earlier part of this report it was noted that the
failure of porcelain suspension insulators was not considered to
be a major problem in the United States. However, problems have
occurred in Canada. The facts appear to be as follows:
Inspection of a number of lines on the Hydro Quebec system
in Canada have shown that as many as 50% of the porcelain suspen-
sion insulators in a given string have been punctured - ap-
parently through the head. It has been further reported that in-
sulators of similar manufacture have cracked spontaneously in
warehouses without ever having been energized at all.
 The problem has been of sufficient magnitude to cause an
investigation and development project at IREQ, which is the
scientific arm of Hydro Quebec, and also in the engineering sec-
tion of Ontario Hydro. Various methods of locating faulty in-
sulators have been investigated in addition to the classic one of
using an insulated hand held pole to support a suitable indicat-
ing device which is used to test each unit in a string
successively. Obviously, at higher voltages the length of the
string is longer and the required safety distance for the opera-
tor becomes greater. Thus the method while suitable for low
voltage is less so for high voltage. Detection of faulty units
through the measurement of the acoustic characteristics generated
by thumping the insulator with a laser beam has been tried with
limited success. It seems that if all the insulators are of the
same manufacturing batch the difference in vibrations induced by
the laser will give reliable indications of faulty units, but
that if the string contains a mixture of batches the variation is
sufficient to mask the differences between good and bad. Another
method using the difference in electric field around an insulator
has been devised by IREQ. Demonstrations of this method have
been made a number of times and were shown during the IEC general
meeting in Montreal in June of 1985.
 The differences in problems between Canada and the United
States with respect to suspension insulators appears to have a
real basis, It would seem that virtually all of the porcelain
suspension insulators used in Canada, and therefore having the
problems delineated above, are of Canadian manufacture. Two
companies, both of which are now out of business in Canada, were
apparently the sources of the units. It is believed that the
problems associated with these porcelain suspension insulators
were the result of improper manufacture. Consideration of the
ceramic properties involved, especially the spontaneous breakage
in storage, imply that the units were manufactured too hurriedly
with respect to the vitrification and cooling processes. It
would seem that inherent high stresses which are normally
relieved during proper manufacturing could result in spontaneous
shattering of porcelain. It has been suggested that the manufac-
turers attempted to produce too many units in too short a time,
One source indicates that there are virtually no glass
insulators in Canada while another says there is some glass
suspension usage in both 500 k V AC and 400 k V DC in that country.
As in many other countries the percentage of total units which
this might represent is very difficult to ascertain.
South America
T h e situation in South America tends to b e confusing largely
because of a lack of data, which in turn could well b e caused by
an attitude on the part of t h e general public which permits what
would b e considered intolerably poor service elsewhere. From
what little information is available it seems that the very great
majority of suspension insulators used in South America a r e
porcelain. T h e o n e major exception to this situation may be in
Brazil where the production of glass insulators under French li-
c e n s e h a s been established and where glass insulators are both
used and sold vigorously as exports.

In view of t h e political situation in South America it would

seem reasonable to suppose that t h e Brazilian produced glass in-
sulators will penetrate the local market rather substantially,
bolstered both by the apparent tendency to avoid hard currency
purchases and by the general populace not having access to
firearms t o cause t h e problems discussed above.

Japan
It is generally understood that there are no glass
insulators in commercial use in Japan. There may of course b e
s o m e isolated incidences where glass is used but it would almost
certainly be limited to purely experimental and developmental
inquiries.
 The major reason for this situation is that Japan is the
home of the world's largest porcelain insulator producer, NGK,
who is not only extremely vigorous in their selling efforts for
porcelain insulation but is also very active in anti-glass
propaganda efforts. It is to be expected that such attitudes and
efforts will continue into the indefinite future and should ef-
fectively preclude glass insulators of any type from being used
in Japan and its immediate surroundings.

Europe
The situation in Europe with respect to the use of glass
insulators versus porcelain insulators and the reasons for the
use of either is complicated. There are whole areas of Europe
where for practical purposes either porcelain or glass will be
used exclusively with virtually no chance of the other material
even being considered.
In France, for example, where the principal source of glass
suspension insulators, Sediver, is located and where the entire
country's electric supply system is a government monopoly, prac-
tical politics as well as nationalism has dictated the use of
glass insulators only. It follows then that in emerging
countries which have come under the influence of French consult-
ants the French viewpoint would prevail. Former French ter-
ritories like Algeria, Morocco, and the Ivory Coast remain
largely glass users.
 A similar situation exists in Italy which has at least two
glass suppliers, Borma and Fidenza. The national utility of
Italy, ENEL, uses a great deal of glass suspension insulators -
perhaps even an averwhelming proportion.
For somewhat similar reasons but with directly opposing
practice, one finds a predominance of porcelain in use in
Germany. Historically Germany has made use of the so called long
rod insulator, usually called by its German name "Longstab,"
which is invariably made of porcelain. Although the design of
the long rod insulator places the porcelain material in tension,
in which the porcelain has a much lower mechanical strength than
for standard suspension insulators which place the porcelain in
compression, proper design and sizing has resulted in- very satis-
factory service from this type of unit. As an aside, it may be
pointed out that the long rod insulator has never found much
favor in the United States, largely for the same reason of
firearms as has produced the difficulty with the glass suspension
insulators. Where with a standard suspension shaped insulator of
porcelain the firearm results in a chip being broken off, or in
the case of glass an explosion of glass pieces, but in general no
mechanical failure, a direct hit on a long rod insulator will al-
most always cause it to break and to drop the line. In Germany
where the use of firearms is quite rigidly controlled this prob-
lem does not exist.
 In a manner quite similar to the use of glass in countries
which are under the influence of French consultants, those
countries under the influence of German consultants use both the
Longstab insulator and porcelain in general almost exclusjvely.
The countries around the Arabian Gulf are very good examples of
this situation.
The United Kingdom falls somewhat between the two extremes
cited above. Statistics indicate a roughly 5 0 / 5 0 division be-
tween glass suspension insulators and porcelain suspension in-
sulators in use by the CEGB, the British national utility which
constructs and operates the very large integrated network in that
country. It is reported that the flashover rates between the two
types of materials are indistinguishable.
The situation in the remainder of Europe seems to be one in
which the use of the two materials varies from area to area, per-
haps as the result of changing political situations and alliances
and the selling efforts of the insulator suppliers. Some glass
insulators are used in the Scandinavian countries, some of the
former British dependencies such as India and New Zealand, and in
central Europe. The use of either glass or porcelain seems to
depend on circumstances.
It should be noted that in all of the countries which use
both porcelain insulators and glass insulators there is a certain
amount of resistance to change. For many, it is considered im-
proper and visually obtrusive to replace a suspension insulator
with one of the other material. Thus an area which contained
porcelain suspension insulators will continue to contain por-
celain suspension insulators and an area with glass units will
continue to be glass without regard to the specific record of
that area or line. A factor seems to be that stocks of one type

or the other are available to the utility from previous purchases

and they simply continue to use them as before.
Other areas of the world use either glass or porcelain or a
mixture of both depending on circumstances. South Africa for ex-
ample has a domestic manufacturer of glass suspension insulators
which are used on voltages as high as 800 kV AC. This is a
higher voltage than almost anywhere else except in Russia, where

information indicates that they have used both glass and por-
celain at the very highest voltages in use in that country - as

much as 1200 kV AC.

General Comments
It is noted that the controversy over the use of either
porcelain or glass applies only to suspension insulators. In
general terms, insulators made of glass can be produced economi-
cally only in the relatively small size and weight associated
with these insulators. Other types of insulators and insulating
structures such as station posts and bushings can be made only in
porcelain. The basic reason for this is that while the glass ma-
terial must be formed in a mold into which the liquid glass is
introduced, forming insulators from porcelain involves the han-
dling of rather rigid sections of clay and does not requirs a
mold. Consequently, the very large variety of sizes and shapes
which are required for bushing shells, for example, can be
produced on multi-purpose machinery for porcelain, while specific
molds would be required were glass used.
Another of the factors which enter into the use of either
porcelain or glass suspension insulators derives from the para-
graph just above. Since a user must purchase some non-suspension
insulator types exclusively of porcelain, inertia or even sales
pressure will tend to lead to purchases of porcelain suspension
insulators as well.
And finally, although it might be considered as a small
point, the choice of porcelain suspension insulators over glass
suspension insulators or vice versa has been known to take place
as a result of personal prejudice. If the use of one material or
another has ever caused embarrassment to a user because of some
property or incident, the use of that material on future con-
struction would probably be rejected.

Two miscellaneous items with respect to the use of glass should

also be noted.
1. In some parts of the worl2 where the transmission lines go
through national forests and similar preserves the use of
glass insulators is prohibited. The reason for this is that
because of the transparency of the glass material it is pos-
sible for the insulators to act as lenses. Under certain
circumstances the lens action of the glass insulator will
focus the sun's rays to a fine point and has been known to
start fires.

2. In a somewhat similar vein the transparency of the glass

insulators has caused trouble when such insulators have been
used to support the power lines along electric railways.
The light shining through the glass material tends to give a
greenish color which in specific locations and under certain
circumstances would appear to give a "green-go ahead" signal
to the operator of the train. Such incidences can cause ac-
cidents because of the apparent false signal. On the op-
posite side of the coin none of the glass insulators in cur-
rent use give a red signal with light passing through them
so it is only the green which is bad and which can cause
accidents.
Review of Published Information
It is somewhat surprising to find that there is a relatively
large amount of discussion concerning glass insulators published
in the technical literature in the past number of years. A cor-
responding discussion and volume of discussion concerning por-
celain does not exist. The specific point at issue is not the
behavior of and the field experience of each of the two types of
insulators but rather a discussion of the material itself. There
have been published papers concerning the mechanical strength of
porcelain insulators versus time, the effects of chemical and
physical changes in the cement used to manufacture the
insulators, the residual strength associated with porcelain in-
sulators following a prescribed testing procedure etc., but the
specific subject of porcelain per se has not been an issue. The
reports of various tests of the two types of insulators whether
under alternating or direct voltage stress, lightning and switch-
ing impulse, and various types of contamination, seem to refer
only to the physical configuration of the insulators with respect
to size, shape, leakage distance, etc., but not to the material
itself. By contrast the manufacturers of the glass insulator
seem to have felt the necessity to discuss the characteristics of
'heir material at periodic intervals. It is noted that the same
general comments are repeated over a period of time in discussing
glass as an insulating material.
 The following comment is taken from a paper entitled
"Toughened Glass and its Usefulness in the Insulation of High
Voltage Overhead Lines" by D. Riviere and R. Polmert presented to
the IEEE Power Group at the IEEE Summer Power Meeting, Detroit,
Michigan, June 27 - July 2, 1365.

"The insulation of high and extra high voltage overhead

lines requires materials having both good electrical and
mechanical characteristics.
For a long time, electrotechnical porcelain was the
only material used despite its imperfections. Being a
"brittle" material, and thereby free of creep, any important
mechanical stress, even quite localized, leads to a breaking
or a fissure which, little by little, becomes important
enough to destroy its electrical qualities. With a
"non-bri,ttleWmaterial, such a localized stress would result
in only a deformation of the material.
Toughened glass, after a few errors of its youth,
allowed us to get rid of this major difficulty."
Later in the same paper
"we know that the tensile strength of brittle materials,
such as glasses or ceramics, is not a specific characteris-
tic of the material, the state of its surface being a deter-
mining factor. Any superficial discontinuity, even on a sub
microscopic scale, will become a point of origin of failure
when this surface is subjected to a tensile stress.''
 The above comments sound very similar to those which have
been offered in the past year or two to explain the high rate of
failure of suspension insulators on direct voltage as compared to
alternating voltage. The glass insulator manufacturer points to
the source of these failures as being inclusions present in the
glass. The source of these inclusions are listed as ablation
products of the furnace in which the glass is melted.
Porcelain insulator manufacturers in a similar vein will
point out that the failures in porcelain material result also
from imperfections and inclusions in the porcelain body. Since
they are also engaged in a steady effort to improve their product
it would seem to be unavoidable that imperfect results will occur
due to imperfect materials.

AC Versus DC Behavior of Insulators

It is widely known and recognized that the difficulty and
failure rate of both porcelain and glass insulators is ap-
preciably higher when these insulators are used on direct current
systems than when they are used on alternating current systems.
At this time the precise reasons why this should be so are not
clearly understood, but some information and insight is
available.
 For both types of insulators, glass and porcelain, the
phenomena inducing failure seem to be very complex involving not
only the basic dielectric material but also the metal fittings
and the cement used to assemble the insulator.
With respect to the basic dielectric material itself, the
steady flow of the direct current over the surface of and through
the body of the insulator produces more stressful conditions than
under alternating current conditions. For instance, should any
small arc or scintillation appear it will tend to maintain itself
under direct current conditions because it does not have the cur-
rent zero extinguishing point which is present on alternating

current. Thus small sources of surface degradation can become

quite onerous. This situation seems to have a greater effect on
the glass insulator because so much of the desirable properties
of the glass material reside in the toughened surface which is
the area most subject to attack by micro arcing and
scintillations.
Another point which is not commonly appreciated is that the
voltage stress over a series of suspension insulators is not uni-
form as had been earlier believed, tending rather to be an ex-
ponential distribution which then puts much higher stresses on
the line end units than had earlier been expected. The effects
of these increased stresses exacerbate the degradation produced
by surface corona type activity.
 Under contaminated conditions the tendency to have increased
surface leakage current is obviously raised. While surface leak-
age current itself is not necessarily any more detrimental to one
material over the other as a generic situation, the effects on
glass are again greater than on porcelain because of the tendency
of the toughened surface to be eroded by the leakage currents.
It must also be kept in mind that the unidirectional force
of direct voltage tends to set up an ionic current in the in-
sulating material itself. The difficulties experienced with the
insulation as a result of these ionic currents seems to be
greater for glass than for porcelain. It is known that the glass
manufacturers have devoted very considerable effort to the
chemistry of their material with the objective of lowering the
inherent ionic current possible. The latest information seems to
indicate that they have made large strides in this direction.
In addition to all of the parameters which have been
mentioned above, there is still another phenomenon which in-
fluences the failure rate. This situation is produced by the
deterioration of the metal fittings as the result of the direct
current constantly flowing from one metal fitting to the other.
This phenomenon seems to take place not only at the surface of
the cement at the point where the metal pin passes through but
also down inside the cemented area. Because of the characteris-
tics of cement and its chemistry there is almost always a volume
of moisture present in the cement which permits conduction of
current through the cement itself and not just over the surface.
The effect of this current flow is to cause a deterioration of
the metal in a manner which increases the volume of the metal
plus its degradation products. This increase in volume tends to
introduce a bursting force inside the suspension insulator that
can eventually destroy the insulator.
Various manufacturers have used various methods to
counteract this problem. One method, the so called "pregnant
bolt," puts extra metal in a part of the pin length so as to
spread the degradation products over a long length and minimize
their effects, while the concept of a sacrificial anode using a
zinc sleeve around the bolt is used by others. It is believed
that there is still considerable more work to be done in this
area.

Conclusions
From evaluation of international experience and use of
suspension insulators, the following points can be made:

1. Both suspension insulators, porcelain or glass, are widely

used throughout the world.

2. From an operational viewpoint the two types are basically

equivalent.
3. In most places around the world the failure rate of one type
versus the other is indistinguishable, ignoring local inci-
dents of faulty manufacture.

4. In some areas, notably the United States of America, the use

of glass suspension insulators has proven to be most un-
satisfactory because of the use of firearms against them.

5. Problems have been experienced with insulators made of

either type of material. These problems have ranged from
improper manufacture to misapplied insulators.

6. The use of either material in a given area or country is

largely the result of non-technical matters as history,
nationalism, industrial politics, and even personal
prejudice.

7. The use of glass can be considered only in suspension type

insulators or those of similar physical magnitude, while
porcelain may be used for the entire gamut of outdoor
insulators.

8. There is no reason to believe that the situation involving

the use of these two materials for insulation purposes will , .4

change radically in the foreseeable future.

9. The actual division between the two materials in their
future use will be determined by influences other than the
technical properties which they possess.
REFERENCES
Glass and Porcelain
1. C. L. Nellis, E. J. Yasuda, R. L. Brown "BPA 1100 kV
Transmission System Development -Insulation Studies," IEEE
Paper #F79 048-0.
2. F. S. Young, H. M. Schneider, Y. M. Gutman, N. N. Tikhodeyev
"US-USSR Investigation of 1200 kV Tower Insulation," IEEE
Paper #F79 283-3
3. E. K. Hall "Ice and Wind Loading Analysis of Bonneville
Power Administration's Transmission Lines and Test Spans,"
IEEE Paper #A77 735-4
4. J. J. Taylor and A. D. Lanta, Jr. "Insulator Design and
Application as Influenced by Difficult Service Environments'
5. P. J. Lambeth, J.S.T. Looms, W. J. Roberts and
B. J. Drinkwater "Natural Pollution Testing of Insulators
for UHV Transmission Systems," CIGRE Paper Presented at the
1974 Session, August 21-19.
6. A. M. Rahal, C. Huraux "Flashover Mechanism of High Voltage
Insulators," IEEE Paper #F79 194-2
7. CIGRE SC22/WG03, "Enquiry on Insulators," CIGRE 22-78 (WG
03) 3, 1978
8. IEC Publication 383-1976, "Tests on Insulators of Ceramic
Material or Glass for Overhead Lines with a Nominal Voltage
Greater than 1,000 V."
9. ANCIC29.1-1982 "Test Methods for Electrical Power
Insulators."
10. CIGRE Working Group 33-04, "A Critical Comparison of
Artificial Pollution Test Methods for High Voltage
Insulators," Electra, No. 64, pp. 117-136, May 1979
Porcelain References
1. E. A. Cherney "Cement Growth Failure of Porcelain Suspension
Insulator," IEEE PAS-102, No. 8, PP 2765-2774, August 1983
2. E. S. Zobel, "Insulators Lose Strength With Age," Electrical
World, PP 40-42, September 24, 1962
 3. EPRI Report, "Extremely High Strength P ~ r c e l a i n , ~EL-722,
~
1978
4. EPRI Report, "Improvement of Mechanical and Electrical
Strength of Porcelain Insulators," RP 424-1, 1977
5. T. Okada and I. Kimoto, "Improvement of Suspension Insulator
Reliability by porcelain ~ r b o f Testing," ~ E E E 08C6-EI-23,
1969
6. IEC Publication 575-1977, "Thermal-Mechanical Performance
Test and Mechanical Performance Test on String Insulator
Units"
7. I. Oda, M. Matsui, T. Soma, "Subcritical Crack Growth in
Electrical Porcelains." Fracture Mechanics of Ceramics,
Vol. 4, Plunum Publishing Corp. U.S.A., 1978
8. T. Fujimura, K. Naito, Y. Hasegawa, T. Kawaguchi,
"Performance of Insulators Covered With Snow or Ice"
9. K. Morita, T. Imakoma, K. Arakawa, "Long-Term Performance of
Ceramic Insulators"
10. M. Hara and C. Luan Phan, "Leakage Current and Flashover
Performance of Iced Insulators," IEEE Paper F78 707-2
11. C. E. Corey, "Relation of Strength to Time for Suspension
Insulators," A Paper for Presentation at the IEEE Great
Lakes District Meeting, Davenport, IA, May 1-3, 1963.
12. T. E. Curtis, T. R. Fry, "Results of Follow Current Tests
on Porcelain Suspension Insulators," Presented at the IEEE
Winter Power Meeting, New York, NY, January 29-February 3 ,
1967.
13. D. S. Smyser, "Evaluating Insulator Reliability," Presented
Before the Pacific Coast Electric Association Annual
Conference of the Engineering and Operation Section, San
Francisco, CA, March 17, 1978
14. M. S. Abou-Seada, A. R. M. Zaghloul, S. M. Salem, "New
Designs for HV insulators With Reference to Desert
Conditions"
15. Electric Power Research Institute - Transmission Line
Reference Book - 345 kV and Above
 Table I
properties of Porcelain and .%dbLime G l a s s

P!anufactu~er's Catalog Data HArdbook Dm-

Porcelain Glass Glass
High SODA-Lime SMA-Lkae
Stamlard Strength Glass Glass
Porcelain Porcelain (Annealed) !Toujhenod)

Specific Gravity 2.41 2.8 2.2 - 2.8

De~ity PSI 0.087 0.10
Campression S t r s r q t h PSI 100,000 100,000 20 ,000-50 ,000

Tensile Strsngth
-- UInstantaneous
ptotic
PSI
PSI
5,000 8,000 2,800
1,970
12,300
11,960
Modules of Rupture - Glazed eSI 15,000 25,000
- Unglazed PSI 10, 500 20,000
nodulus of E l a s t i c i t y eSI 10.4x106 17.0~10~ 1 0 . 0 ~ 1 0 ~ 1!1.45x10~

Linear ~ u n n u Expamion
l i ~ i ~ c " 5.8xlo4 6.7~10'~ 8.5~10'~ 9.1~0'~

Puncfure Strerrqth -
Nominal
(Variarr with Thickness)
Dielectric Constant a t 1 M H z 5.6 6.9

menus1 C o d u c t i v i t y - ~lU/d/iWk/fl 8.4 8.4

Volune Resistivity fagohn-QI 3x10~ 3x10~