First principles and molecular dynamics modeling investigation on polyethylene

BZ Xu and N Bowler and SP Beckman, 2016 IEEE CONFERENCE ON ELECTRICAL INSULATION AND DIELECTRIC PHENOMENA (IEEE CEIDP), 885-888 (2016).

There is over 1000 km of electrical cables in a nuclear power plant. The insulation around these wires is made of ethylene propylene rubber and cross-linked polyethylene that are subjected to radiation damage in addition to environmental damage. It is highly desirable to develop a means for understanding and testing the effect of damage on these cables. Here we present a two-scale modeling approach to understanding the relationship between microscopic local damage and the properties of polyethylene.

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