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Cable oversheath materials: The first line of defence for improved cable
reliability

Conference Paper · July 2009

DOI: 10.1049/cp.2009.1011 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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CIRED 20th International Conference on Electricity Distribution
CABLE OVERSHEATH MATERIALS: THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENCE FOR IMPROVED
CABLE RELIABILITY
Simon SUTTON
Dow Wire and Cable, UK
sjsutton@dow.com
ABSTRACT
The reliability of newly installed cables is expected to be as
high as possible from commissioning to replacement. The
cable oversheath (jacket) provides the first line of defence
for the cable during transportation, installation and
throughout its life in the laying environment. As such
choosing the most appropriate oversheath material is
essential to protect the cable at all stage of its life.
INTRODUCTION
Since the introduction of MV XLPE cables in the 1960s
many design modifications have led to increased cable
reliability, such as extruded semiconducting screens and
cleaner insulation. Although protective jackets are common
today they were not so in the past; a North American study
showed that only in the 80’s did the use of polymeric
jackets increase to over 80% of all cables installed1.
Investigations have shown that the introduction of cable
jackets has significantly reduced cable failure rates2.
Increasing demand for cable is being driven by (i) asset
replacement in developed economies and (ii) network
expansion in developing economies. At the same time
public opposition to disruption caused during cable laying is
increasing. This, along with pressure to lower project costs
and reduce installation time, is driving utilities to consider
alternative laying methods to those which they may have
used for many years.
Installation methods vary regionally, e.g. duct systems are
common in North America but less so in Europe. Also
some techniques may be relatively new to the industry or
pushing the limits of previous applicability, e.g. ploughing
in or directional drilling methods.
Examples include;
1. Duct systems only require a short length of trench to
be open at any time. Ducting can be installed at the
most convenient time, minimising disruption and the
cable pulled into the ducts at a later date.
2. Tunnels are also increasingly popular in major
conurbations. Although an expensive option,
multiple circuits can be installed in the same space,
access is easy and disruption to the public can often
be minimal during excavation.
CIRED2009 Session 1 Paper No 0829
Prague, 8-11 June 2009
Paper 0829
Theo GEUSSENS
Dow Wire and Cable, Switzerland
tgeussens@dow.com
3. Ploughing-in techniques have gained popularity in
open-ground (non-urban) due to the speed at which
cables can be installed.
4. Directional drilling is being used over short and long
distances to avoid breaking ground at the surface.
The reliability of newly installed cables is expected to be as
high as possible from commissioning to replacement.
Although much attention is given to the electrical
performance of the cable core, the oversheath provides the
first line of defence for the cable during transportation,
installation and throughout its life in the laying
environment. Choosing the appropriate oversheath material
is essential to protect the cable at all stage of its life.
KEY OVERSHEATH PROPERTIES
Cable norms prescribe the minimum requirements for
jackets. In the case of polyethylene jackets, standards such
as IEC 60502 or CENELEC’s HD 620 define the functional
requirements for the jacket material.
Some properties such as tensile strength and elongation are
of general importance, whereas others should depend
strongly on the installing technique of the cable and laying
environment. Some properties may even be geographically
important, for example in southern Europe and the tropics,
termite resistance is required3,4.
Cables pulled into ducts or through directionally drilled
ground may suffer abrasion to the oversheath, whereas
cables which are ploughed-in or pulled-in following
directional drilling may come to rest on hard sharp objects
(e.g. rocks) and need good puncture resistance.
Impact resistance is important parameter for cables in open
ground which may be damaged during ground works in the
vicinity of the cable. Similarly the jacket should be resistant
to, and act as a barrier against, chemicals in the ground. In
other situations, cables:
• Pulled into ducts benefit from a low coefficient of
friction and flexibility,
• In tunnels benefit if the jacket has some flame
retardant characteristics,
• Which have a wet design, benefit when the jacket
reduces water diffusion into the cable’s interior,
• Which are bent or flex significantly benefit from
superior stress crack resistance.
CIRED 20th International Conference on Electricity Distribution Prague, 8-11 June 2009

Paper 0829

Specialized jacket layers Mechanical strength

In addition to physically protecting the cable the oversheath
can provide extra functionality, e.g. flame retardancy or an
improved conducting path.
The benefit of applying a semiconductive jacket in MV
cable is grounding is provided over the entire cable length
providing additional protection from lightning surges4. For
The mechanical strength of a jacket is often defined by the
tensile properties. Figure 1 shows a comparison of tensile
properties of PVC and various polyethylenes. HDPE offers
the highest ultimate tensile strength while maintaining high
elongation (to break) values. PVC has lower values.
Hardness

HV and EHV cables, an outer semiconductive jacket layer

allows simpler diagnostics after production and installation,
particularly for cables laid in air. Such layers provide easier Elongation Tensile strength
application, which does not rub or wash off, and better
performance than graphite paint.

Flame retardant jacket materials for cables in tunnels offer

important safety benefits such as allowing personnel extra Flex Modulus Vicat softening point
time to evacuate the tunnel in case of fire. These HFFR
LLDPE MDPE HDPE PVC
materials can be applied as outer layer over a traditional
jacket resulting in the combined benefits of both materials.

JACKET MATERIALS Figure 1. Property balance of PVC and PE jacket

Polymeric materials used for cable jackets include PVC,
polyethylenes, polypropylene, rubber, nylon, HFFR grades
and some other plastics for more specialized applications.
Plasticized PVC is widespread in cable jackets offering
good resistance to ozone, oils, acids, bases, alcohols, waxes
and greases and flame retardancy in a cost effective manner.
The disadvantages of PVC are higher water diffusion, lower
abrasion resistance, poor resistance to low temperatures and
generation of noxious gases when ignited.
Polyethylenes are becoming increasingly popular as the
jacket material for underground power cables because they
offer certain advantages over PVC. The polyethylene
density is one of the determining factors besides the
polymer molecular weight (expressed as melt index) and
resin design which controls the properties of the material.
However, polyethylenes are usually just classified according
to their density:
LDPE and LLDPE: density from 0.910 to 0.925 g/cm3
MDPE: density from 0.925 to 0,940 g/cm3
grades.
Flexibility
Flexibility is often expressed as flexural modulus and
affects the force required to bend cable. Plasticized PVC
jackets are very flexible. Within the polyethylene family,
LLDPE offers the good flexibility (Figure 1); for this reason
it is the preferred material in colder regions. Stiffer
polyethylene jacket materials have higher densities.
Hardness and abrasion resistance
The hardness of a jacket material, often expressed as
Shore D or Shore A determines properties such as abrasion
resistance and termite resistance. Studies have shown that
European termite species will not attack jackets having a
Shore D hardness above 60, meaning MDPE and HDPE
jackets are suitable in this region. In other geographies
where termite species can chew harder materials, a nylon
(polyamide) outer jacket offers additional protection.
1.4
Weight loss/500 cycles

HDPE: density above 0.940 g/cm3 1.2

1
LDPE jacket materials are generally no longer used for 0.8
(%)

energy cable jackets, but are still used widely in 0.6

telecommunication cables. Linear polyethylenes offer 0.4
improved properties compared to LDPE, while modern 0.2
extrusion lines can process linear polyethylenes without 0
1st gen. 2nd gen. LDPE LLDPE HDPE
limitations in motor load, melt temperatures or melt semicon semicon

pressure5. Depending on the requirements LLDPE, MDPE jacket jacket

and HDPE are all used in energy cable jackets6. Figure 2. Abrasion resistance of various jacket
materials.

CIRED2009 Session 1 Paper No 0829

CIRED 20th International Conference on Electricity Distribution
A comparison of abrasion resistance is shown in Figure 2.
Although suitable for duct systems, first generation
semiconducting jackets were softer than unfilled materials
and more likely to suffer abrasion when pulled over rough
surfaces than modern formulations. New, second
generation, semiconductive jacket grades show abrasion
resistance more typical of an LLDPE. These are suitable
for pulling into ducts or through directionally drilled ground
where the conditions can be unknown.
Temperature resistance
An important thermal property of a jacket is the puncture
resistance as measured by the pressure test at elevated
temperatures (Figure 3). This test simulates the resistance
of the jacket to resting on sharp stones pushing into the
jacket when the cable heats up during operation and
subsequent thermo-mechanical movement. The test is
clearly relevant to directly buried cables and in particular,
ploughed in cables, where no attempt is made to avoid this
situation. The indentation of HDPE jacket grades is the
lowest of all polyethylene based jackets and offers the best
puncture resistance for both MV and HV cable jackets.
Another common measure for temperature resistance is the
Vicat softening point of a plastic. As Figure 1 shows, this
property is highly dependent on material density. However
control of the polymer structure allows this property to be
fine tuned whilst maintaining other parameters.
Environmental stress crack resistance
ESCR is an important property which indicates if a cable
jacket will undergo cracking when subjected to high stresses
eg bending. LLDPE jackets exhibit very high stress crack
resistance and were therefore the material of choice for
energy cable jackets, although MDPE were used when
higher abrasion resistance was required.
The previous generation of HDPE jackets could only
guarantee a high ESCR level, with high molecular weight
polymer, which caused extrudability and shrinkage issues.
However, with the new generation of HDPE jacket resins6,7
25
20
Indentation (%)
15
10
5 Low temperature behaviour
0
LLDPE MDPE HDPE2 HDPE1
Figure 3. Pressure test at high temperature (115°C) of
PE jacket grades.
CIRED2009 Session 1 Paper No 0829
Prague, 8-11 June 2009
Paper 0829
10
8
WVTR (g/m2/day)
6
4
2
0
PVC 1st Gen, 2nd Gen. LDPE LLDPE HDPE
semicon semicon
jacket jacket
Figure 4. Water vapour transmission rates of jacket
grades
these issues have been designed out of the materials and
such grades do not show any failures after 4000 hours in a
10% Igepal solution; the most severe test. This level of
performance is typical of LLDPE jacket grades.
Barrier properties
Not only does the oversheath protect and prevent corrosion
of the neutral wires and metallic sheath (if present), but also
limits water diffusion into the interior of the cable when no
radial water barrier is present. XLPE insulations will
develop water trees when water diffuses into the insulation
layer (which can act as a failure mechanism). Use of water
tree retardant XLPE combined with a low vapour
transmission oversheath will minimise water tree growth
when no radial water barrier exists. Figure 4 compares the
water vapour transmission of a flexible PVC jacket versus
polyethylene jackets. Such results have also been
confirmed by measurements on actual cable jackets at
different temperatures8.
Since the diffusion of water molecules is controlled by the
packing of the polymer molecules, high crystallinity HDPE
will have the lowest vapour transmission. Nevertheless, the
latest (second) generation of semiconducting jackets offers
similar vapour transmission to HDPE.
Coefficient of friction
The coefficient of friction of the oversheath material
determines the pulling forces required to pull a cable
through a duct. This characteristic of polyethylene jackets is
also related to the density. An HDPE jacket has the lowest
coefficient of friction within the polyethylene group and the
value is lower than that of plasticised PVC.
Unfilled polyethylenes have a brittleness temperature below
-78 °C whilst PVC has a higher brittleness temperature
which depends on the level of plasticisation. Tensile
elongation values measured for HDPE1 and HDPE2 at
 CIRED 20th International Conference on Electricity Distribution
Tensile strength (MPa)
1000
Vicat A 500
0
Hardness Shore D
Flex. Modulus MPa)
HDPE1
Figure 5. Property comparison of 2 modern HDPE
grades with different product design.
-40 °C are greater than 300%, far above the minimum of
20% specified for a DMP 10 (c.f. CENELEC HD620)
jacket at -20 °C. Consequently PE jacketed cable can be
installed at lower temperatures (-20 °C) than the
recommended minimum installation temperature for PVC
jacketed cable.
Weather resistance
Even though the majority of a cable circuit will be buried,
some sections may still be exposed to the atmosphere, eg
cables clamped to bridges or at cable sealing ends. The
cable therefore needs protection from UV radiation and the
most effective UV stabiliser is carbon black. Extensive
work by Bell laboratories9 showed that a minimum of 2%
well dispersed carbon black with a particle size of 20 nm or
less can lead to sufficient UV protection of polyethylene for
35 years or more. For coloured jackets a UV stabiliser
needs to be incorporated via the natural base resin or a
colour masterbatch.
Evolution of jacket materials
Many utilities specify a particular grade of polyethylene for
the oversheath. However as discussed above this may not
be the optimal choice for a particular project, installation
method or laying environment.
The introduction of “next generation” oversheath grades,
such as bimodal materials10, has significantly changed the
properties of materials with the same simple nomenclature
based on density e.g. HDPE. New catalyst technologies11
for manufacturing technologies allow a higher freedom of
product design, allowing optimisation of certain properties
without compromising others (Figure 5).
The latest generation of HDPE jacket grades offer improved
temperature resistance, lower water diffusion rates, lower
COF and higher abrasion resistance in comparison to
MDPE and especially LLDPE, while still performing well at
low temperatures down to -40 °C or lower. New generation
CIRED2009 Session 1
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Paper 0829
HDPE jackets offer an excellent mix of properties to meet
the criteria of the most stringent requirements such as
DMP2 or DMP9 for black or DMP13 for natural MV cable
Elongation at break (%) jackets in HD 620.
CONCLUSIONS
Elongation at break after
ageing (%) The properties of an energy cable oversheath need to be
matched to the installation method and laying environment
of the cable. Polyethylene jackets offer benefits over PVC
jackets such as reduced water diffusion, higher abrasion
HDPE2
resistance and increased toughness.
Advances in polymerisation and catalyst technologies have
created polyethylene materials which although having the
same nomenclature, e.g. HDPE, can have differing
properties. Consequently, modern materials can have
improved performance over their predecessors.
Where flexibility is a key performance item, LLDPE jackets
are a good choice. New generation HDPE jacket grades
provide a combination of high abrasion resistance, superior
moisture barrier properties, and excellent thermal and stress
crack resistance. For utilities developments in PE jacketing
have led to cables with improved reliability.
Advanced jacketing options such as semiconducting jackets
offer utilities additional advantages for testing energy cables
after manufacturing, installation and during the use.
REFERENCES
[1] Dudas, J.H., 1994,,IEEE Electrical Insulation
Magazine Vol. 10, No 2, 7-15.
[2] Kong, A., Nov 1991 Minutes of ICC, IEEE-PES 89th
Meeting.
[3] Graham,G., Szaniszlo, S.,1995, IEE Electrical
Insulation Magazine, Vol11, Issue 5, 5-12
[4] CIGRE WG21.07, 1994, Electra 157.
[5] Brument, J., Lesur, F, Paulmier, I., 2007, Jicable
2007, Session B1.5.
[6] Nicolas, A., Kharazi, A., 1985, SPE ANTEC ’85
conference, Boston (MA).
[7] Gau, Y., Kmiec,C.J., Person, T.J.,1997, Jicable ’99,
B10.4, 638-648.
[8] Ross, R., Geurts, W.S.M.; 1998 IEEE International
conference on Conduction and Breakdown in Solid
Dielectrics, June 22-25, Västerås, Sweden, 345-348
[9] Howard, J.B., Gilroy, H.M., Polymer Engineering &
Science, Vol. 9, nr. 4, 286-294 (1969)
[10] Dammert, R.C., Wald, D., Kirchner, M., Philippczyk,
C.,2003, Jicable ‚03, 789-795 (2003)
[11] Kale, L.T., Iaccino, T.L., Bow, K.E.,1996, Antec ’96,
1647-1651
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