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Brittle Fracture Failure of Composite (Non-
Ceramic) Insulators
Maciej S. Kumosa
Abstract— In this work, additional input is provided into the
ongoing discussion on the mechanisms, causes and remedies of
brittle fracture failures of composite (non-ceramic) insulators.
This has been done partially to complement the recently
published article on this topic entitled “ IEEE Task Force
Report: Brittle Fracture in Non-Ceramic Insulators” [1]. At
first, the most important characteristics of the brittle process are
described in this study. Then, two important examples of
insulator failures by brittle fracture are shown and their causes
explained. Finally, several recommendations on how to avoid
brittle fracture in service are presented to supplement those
already given in [1]. This work should improve the current state
of knowledge on brittle fracture of composite insulators as well
as provide a potential means of avoiding it in-service.
Index Terms—Brittle Fracture, Composite, Non-Ceramic,
Polymer Insulators, Failure Analysis, Prevention.
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Composite (non-ceramic) insulators
C
OMPOSITE suspension insulators are used in
overhead transmission lines with line voltages in the
range of 69 kV to 735 kV. The insulators, also called
as either non-ceramic, polymer or polymeric insulators
rely on unidirectional glass reinforced polymer (GRP)
composite rods as the principle load-bearing component. The
rods are manufactured by pultrusion and the constituents are
either polyester, vinyl ester, or epoxy resins reinforced with
either E-glass or ECR-glass (also called boron-free E-glass)
fibers. In spite of many benefits, which the insulators can offer
in comparison with their porcelain counterparts (high
mechanical strength-to-weight ratio, improved damage
tolerance, flexibility, good impact resistance, and ease of
installation), they can fail mechanically in service by rod
fracture. One of the mechanical failure modes of the insulators
Manuscript received March 1, 2005. This research has been supported
since 1992 by the Electric Power Research Institute (under five consecutive
contracts) and a consortium of electric utilities consisting of the Bonneville
Power Administration (under four contracts), Western Area Power
Administration (four contracts), Alabama Power Company (two contracts),
Pacific Gas and Electric (three contracts), National Rural Electric Cooperative
Association (one contract). It was also supported by Glasforms, Inc (one
contract) and NGK-Locke (one contract).
M. S. Kumosa is with the Center for Advanced Materials and Structures,
Department of Engineering, University of Denver, 2390 S. York St., Denver,
CO 80208 (phone: 303-871-3807; fax: 303-871-4450; e-mail:
mkumosa@du.edu).
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is a failure process called brittle fracture [1-26] which is
caused by the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of GRP rods
[27-41,52]. Several attempts have been made over the years
[1-26] to understand the process and provide potential means
of avoiding it in-service.
The reason why the brittle fracture problem has drawn so
much attention is not because of the number of brittle fracture
failures, which has certainly not been significant [1], but
because of its characteristic features, which are:
- the failure is catastrophic,
- the failure is unpredictable; can occur after a few
months or after a few years of being in service,
- there are no reliable monitoring techniques which
could be used to monitor composite insulators in
service for potential brittle fracture failures,
- the causes of failures, if one reads the available
literature on this topic, are uncertain due to a number of
confusing journal articles and conference presentations.
B. Brittle fracture research at OGI and DU
Mechanical failure mechanisms of composite high voltage
insulators have been extensively studied at the Oregon
Graduate Institute (OGI) [9-15,30, 44-46] and presently at the
University of Denver (DU) [16,17,19, 21, 24-26,31-43,47,48].
This has been done in addition to the other research activities
on this topic [1-8,18,20,22,23]. In the insulator research at
OGI and DU particular attention has been given to the
understanding of the brittle fracture process that can occur in
composite insulators in service. SCC, which causes brittle
fracture of unidirectional E-glass/polymer composites, is
caused by the combined action of mechanical tensile stresses
along the fibers and a corrosive acidic environment [27-41].
The brittle fracture research in our laboratory was initiated in
1992 as a result of numerous insulator failures on a 345 kV
line [9]. It was further expanded in 1996 after additional
insulator failures on a 500 kV line [14]. Since we had already
some past experience with SCC [27-29], we were selected to
perform this research.
The major accomplishments in this insulator research
regarding brittle fracture have been:
- explanation of the 345 kV and 500 kV brittle fracture
failures [9-16],
- identification of the type of acid responsible for brittle
fracture [17, 26],
- simulation of brittle fracture with and without high
voltage [10-12,15,19,24],
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- identification of several critical conditions leading to should not be immediately used as definite evidence of brittle
brittle fracture [9-17,19], fracture. According to [47,48] a crimped composite insulator
- providing a ranking of the commonly used GRP rod can fail mechanically in-service by rod fracture caused not by
materials for their resistance to stress corrosion brittle fracture but overcrimping. If crimped composite
cracking in nitric acid and thus brittle fracture insulators are incorrectly designed and manufactured
[21,19,36-40], (excessive crimping deformations, incorrect design of the
- recommendations of several stress corrosion tests for metal end fittings, excessive in-service mechanical loads, etc.)
the initiation [21,30,36-40] and propagation [10-12,19, failure of the rod can also occur very close to the end fitting
24,31-35] of brittle fracture cracks in unidirectional and the macroscopic fracture surface will be flat and almost
GRP composites. perpendicular to the long axis of the rod (Fig. 2)[47]. In this
case, the macro-fracture features will be almost
II. CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF BRITTLE FRACTURE indistinguishable from the fracture features caused by brittle
fracture. This type of failure can occur at either end fitting. If
A. Brittle fracture description crimping deformations are large, the loads at rod fracture
In brittle fracture large cracks are formed inside the GRP could be quite low [47,48]. Most likely some of the reports in
rods and run perpendicular to the long axis of the insulators the past of “brittle fracture failures” at the cold ends must have
(Fig. 1). Due to the complexity of the problem several been related to the rod failure by a combination of
different analyses are required as part of the failure overcrimping and in-service mechanical tensile loads. The
investigation. Brittle fracture can only be determined if the only way to distinguish this type of failure from brittle
following three analyses of composite fracture surfaces are fracture is by performing a detailed microscopic analysis of
performed: macroscopic, microscopic and chemical. These the rod’s fracture surface [47].
fundamental analyses must be performed, all of them, to be
absolutely sure that an insulator has failed by brittle fracture.
1) Macroscopic analysis: It has been shown in [9-16]
that brittle fracture can occur either inside or just outside of
the energized end fitting (see Fig. 1). There is a relationship
between the location of failure and the position of the grading
ring. When grading rings were present, a vast majority of
failures occurred in the rod just above the grading ring
[9,10,12,16,26]. Also the location of failure was related to the
size of the grading rings. For higher line voltages with larger
grading rings the location of failure was found to occur at
larger distances from the end fitting [9,10,14,16]. In the
absence of the grading rings the failure location was found to
occur usually inside the fitting [10,12]. In some sporadic cases
the failure was a combination of transverse cracks in the
composite rods inside and just outside the fittings linked by
long axial splits along the rod [10,12].
A model has been proposed [9,10,14-16,19,25,26], which
explains the location of failure in the insulators, e.g. failure
inside the fitting or above the grading ring. The model is
based on the formation of nitric acid either on the external
surface of the insulators due to water droplet coronas (failure
inside the fitting), or inside the insulators in the presence of
water and partial discharges (PD) (failure above the
hardware). To support the model, electric field calculations
were performed [10,13,19] in order to demonstrate the
possibility of PD that are necessary to create nitric acid in
service inside macroscopic delaminations and other large
cracks that are always associated with the brittle fracture
process. It has been shown in [10,13,19] that if the cracks are
partially filled with water, the field concentration is high
enough to initiate PD inside the transmission composite
insulators near their energized ends, and to produce
nitrogenous species (nitrates).
The fact that in brittle fracture transverse fracture surfaces Fig. 1. Examples of brittle fracture failures of 500kV suspension insulators;
form in the GRP rod and run perpendicular to the rod axis (a) failure inside the fitting and (b) failure above the hardware [14,26].
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Fig. 2. Failure characteristics of overcrimped 115kV insulator; (a) macro-
damage zone, (b) composite fracture surface and (c) typical example of
fractured fiber from the surface in Fig. 2b [47].
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Fig. 3. Mirror (*), mist (**) and hackle (***) zones on the fracture surface of
E-glass fiber exposed to nitric acid [47].
2) Microscopic analysis: The microscopic observations
of numerous field-failed insulators have shown that the brittle
fracture surfaces in the GRP rods formed either inside or
above the hardware exhibit noticeably different micro-features
[9,10,12,14,15,19]. If failures occurred inside the fittings, the
surfaces were usually heavily contaminated by thick surface
deposits (see for example Fig. 5a). For the failures above the
hardware the amount of surface contamination was found to
be significantly lower. In addition, more resin decomposition
by PD was observed on the composite fracture surfaces above
the hardware than inside the fitting. These differences were
explained in [10-16,19] and the internal and external brittle
failure processes were simulated in small composite GRP
specimens under laboratory conditions [10-12,14,19].
The most characteristic feature of SCC of unidirectional E-
glass/polymer composites and thus brittle fracture of non-
ceramic insulators is the formation of the mirror, mist and
hackle zones on the fracture surfaces of broken fibers. These
three zones can be easily observed for example in Fig. 3 of
this paper. The size of the mirror zones does not depend on
the chemical environment (usual misconception) but is related
to the magnitude of the mechanical stresses [27]. The fiber
fracture under stress corrosion is caused by the ion exchange
mechanism in which hydrogen ions from an acidic solution
replace metal ions (Al, Ca, Fe, Mg) in the fibers. This
weakens the fibers causing their fracture under low tensile
stresses [27].
According to the experimental observation presented in
[49], cracks in brittle materials such as glasses suffer a
dynamic instability, which makes them unable to accelerate up
to high velocities predicted by classical theories of dynamic
fracture. Therefore, the transition from the mirror to hackle
zone is related to a critical crack tip velocity above which the
fracture process is highly unstable [34,49]. Therefore, it can
be shown that the size of the mirror zones depends primarily
on the applied stress. The entire fracture process, after the
formation of a ”C-type” flaw, is very fast but not directly
related to an acid attack on glass fibers [27,34]; an acid is only
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necessary to initiate a “C-type” flaw. If we consider the
average crack tip velocity across a glass fiber to be about 200
m/s [49] then the time for fracture of an average fiber with
14µm diameter is approximately 70ns. From the moment of
the flaw initiation until the final failure of the fiber, the
process is dynamic not static (another usual misconception)
[34].
The zones shown in Fig. 3 are usually damaged during a
corrosion process. This process is called post failure damage
[10,12,27], occurring after the fracture of individual fibers,
and is caused by the chemical attack of a corrosive
environment on the newly formed fiber fracture surface. In
some cases, numerous surface cracks are formed in the mirror
zones due to the leaching of aluminum, calcium and other
metal components out of the glass fibers (see Fig. 4).
fittings can be traced along the insulators, which failed in-
service, by brittle fracture. By tracing the metal ions, the
extent of water/acid ingress inside the insulators can be
established. Also, the presence of other contaminates such as
sulfur, chlorine, sodium, potassium, etc., which could
contribute to the failure process, can be established by
chemically analyzing the deposits [9,10,12,14,15,19].
3) Chemical analysis: According to [1] “the definitive
method of detection of brittle fracture consists of an elemental
analysis of the relative depletion of calcium and aluminum
ions in the fiberglass core rod. Scanning electron microscope
(SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis have been
used in studying the corrosive morphological damage and
elemental depletion analysis of fiberglass. Using these
techniques, the decreases in calcium and aluminum relative to
silicon can be determined. Other methods that are useful in
this detection include Auger spectroscopy to define the
constituents of the glass fiber”.

Fig. 4. Post failure damage on the fracture surface of E-glass fiber exposed to
oxalic acid [10].

The post failure damage is an important phenomenon very

useful in the failure analysis. Its characteristics can be used to
determine the cause of SCC for a composite structure. The
amount of post failure damage is related to the acid type, its
concentration and the time of exposure [10,12, 27,30]. For
example, nitric acid of pH 1 will not develop post failure
damage within a few weeks of exposure whereas other acids
of the same concentration (sulfuric, hydrochloric, oxalic) will
after a few hours or days [10,12,27,30]. In the case of oxalic
acid the post failure damage can be so extensive (Fig. 4) that
the entire fracture surface including the mirror, mist and
hackle zones is essentially shattered.
Another very important issue related to the micro-fracture
features of composite insulators is the nature of the deposits
on their fracture surfaces, in particular, when they were
formed inside the fitting (see Fig. 5) [9,10,12,14,15]. Usually,
the deposits are so thick that the fracture surfaces of individual Fig. 5. Examples of surface deposits on brittle fractures of composite
broken fibers cannot be seen. Critical information about the insulators [10,14,15].
causes of failure by brittle fracture can be gained by Certainly, aluminum and calcium are depleted in the glass
chemically analyzing the deposits [9,10,12,14,15,19]. For fibers on the composite fracture surfaces in the field failed (by
example, metal ions such as iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) from the brittle fracture) composite insulators [10]. Also, the depletion
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of Al and Ca indicates SCC and thus brittle fracture as a cause
of failure as stated in [1]. However, EDX and SEM could not
be successfully used to determine the depletion in the field
failed E-glass fibers on the brittle fracture surfaces
[9,10,14,15]. Since the chemical composition of the deposit
shown in Fig. 5 consisted predominantly of Ca (with traces of
Fe, Zn, S, Cl, etc.), the application of the two techniques could
not determine the actual composition of the glass fibers on the
composite surfaces. This could only be accomplished using
Auger spectroscopy with depth profiling [10]. EDX showed
the chemistry of the deposit, not of the fibers.
Fig. 6. FTIR analysis of failed by brittle fracture suspension composite
insulator; (a) failure morphology with site locations for FTIR and (b) FTIR
spectra for the sites in Fig. 6a. Band at 1386.8cm-1 indicates presence of
nitrates [26].
Even if the depletion process in glass fibers in a field-failed
insulator is determined, this will still not establish the actual
cause of failure. In order to determine the actual composition
of a chemical environment responsible for brittle fracture a
detailed surface analysis must be performed, not by using
Auger, SEM and EDX, but for example by employing Fourier
Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy which can detect
nitrates [17, 26]. Using FTIR, nitrates were detected on the
composite surface in the brittle fracture zones of several
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suspension insulators (Fig. 6) indicating that the failure was
caused by nitric acid [17,26]. It was also shown in [26] that
the highest concentration of nitric acid existed on the fracture
surface on both sides of a separation caused by water ingress
along the GRP rod/housing interface (Fig. 6, sites 2, 3 and 4).
This has finally proven that the model proposed in [9-16,19]
regarding the nitric acid formation process inside the
insulators is correct.
The most important information about the causes of brittle
fracture failures is not in the E-glass fibers but in the surface
deposits (contamination). Since the surface chemistry is so
important, recommendations must be provided describing the
procedures for handling field-failed insulators. After failure,
fracture surfaces in composite insulators should be
immediately protected from any further contamination, for
example by placing both sides of a field failed insulator in
plastic bags. The composite fracture surfaces should not be
touched with fingers, sprayed with chemicals etc., which is
usually the case.
B. Results and frequency of occurrence
It is most unlikely that all the cases of brittle fracture
failures reported in past were fully analyzed macroscopically,
microscopically and chemically as recommended here and in
[1]. We also suspects that many failures reported in the past
were incorrectly identified as brittle fracture instead of as
overcrimped failures. Also, many brittle fracture failures have
not been reported at all. In our research we have identified
approximately five 115 kV, twenty 345 kV and four 500 kV
insulators [9,10,12,14,19], which failed by brittle fracture.
We must agree that the probability of insulator failure by
brittle fracture substantially increases with an increase in line
voltage [1]. Certainly, the higher field concentration will
create an environment more suitable for the initiation of brittle
fracture [10,13,19]. Therefore, the only model of brittle
fracture, which could explain these observations, is a model,
which takes into consideration not only the presence of
moisture and mechanical stresses but also the effect of the
electric field [25]. However, even if our high voltage brittle
fracture model is accepted, it cannot be used to predict these
failures since all critical electrical, mechanical and chemical
conditions for brittle fracture are unknown at present, and
most likely, will never be known.
C. Examples and explanations of brittle fracture failures
The failures described in [1] as cases D and E were quite
widely publicized in the insulator community at different
IEEE meetings. These two cases, Cases D [9-13,15,19] and E
[14], were also extensively studied at OGI and DU. It is our
opinion that the two cases are of particular importance due to
the sheer number of failures in Case D and high voltage in
Case E.
345 kV failures
The failures occurred in 1990/1991 on a 345 kV line.
Fourteen brittle fracture failures occurred resulting in the drop
of the conductor (see Fig. 7) within two years of service. In
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addition almost 200 insulators were found to be severely the fittings near the triple point shown in Fig. 8a,b. It was also
damaged. We had full access to all the failed and damaged established that all the units on the 345 kV line were not
units removed from the line [9]. The failure analysis of the protected against moisture ingress into their end fittings. No
damaged units (not the failed ones) was found to be silicone gel was applied at the fitting/rod interface to achieve
particularly useful. The damage process was observed at the moisture seal.
different stages of its development in the damaged insulators.
In order to explain the 345 kV failures numerous
experimental techniques were employed [10,12]. The field-
failed units were examined using optical and scanning
microscopes on the macro and micro-levels [9,10,12,15,19].
Detailed chemical analyses of the fracture surfaces taken from
the failed units were performed. Unique new experimental
techniques were developed to simulate the brittle fracture
process under laboratory conditions with and without high
voltage fields. All of the above proved that the failures were
caused by brittle fracture. However, the exact causes of the
failures were much more difficult to determine. Finally, after
simulating numerically the mechanical performance of the
insulators with the epoxy cone end fittings using advanced
finite element techniques [15,19] (see Fig. 8), it was
established that a manufacturer must have applied excessive
mechanical loads during proof testing [15,19]. The large loads Fig. 7. 345 kV suspension insulator failed in-service by brittle fracture
applied to the insulators during proof testing crushed the [9,10,15,26].
epoxy cones inside the fittings, as stated in [1] and in [15,
19], allowing easy access of water to the GRP rod of the
insulators. In addition, water was also allowed to stay inside

Fig. 8. Finite element model of suspension insulator with the epoxy cone end fittings; (a) end fitting design (schematic) (b) deformed finite element mesh and (c)
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mechanical stress distributions in the cones [15,19].

and between 2.5 and 3 for an epoxy based composite [10,12].

500 kV failures
The failures described as Case E of [1] were also studied in
this laboratory [14]. The failures were caused by spilt epoxy
on the hardware during manufacturing (see Fig. 9) allowing
easy access of water into the end fittings [1,14].

Fig. 10. Damaged rubber housing in 500 kV composite insulator near its hot
end [14].

Fig. 9. Spilt epoxy on the upper surface of the hardware of 500kV suspension
composite insulator [14].

The research performed on the 500kV units [14] did not

provide any significant new information regarding the macro
and micro-features of brittle fracture. It showed however three
very important new things [14]:
1. The amount of water responsible for brittle fracture
must have been extremely small. All units from the
line, including the failed ones, passed the dye
penetration test.
2. Large amounts of water present on the surface of the
GRP rods in the insulators did not lead immediately to
brittle fracture [14]. A couple of insulators from the
line were found with the rubber housing near the hot
end significantly damaged and the GRP rod completely
exposed to moisture, without brittle fracture (Fig. 10).
3. If water and PD are present at the rod/housing interface
above the hardware, cracks can be found in the rubber
housing initiating at the interface and, then, propagating
outwards across the rubber towards the external surface
of a composite insulator (see Fig. 11).
The formation of the cracks in the housing shown in Fig. 11
could explain the origin of the damage to the housing
presented in Fig. 10. It could also suggest that when such
cracks are present, large amounts of water will penetrate the
housing through those cracks, further accelerating the damage
process in the housing. However, if a large quantity of water
is present inside an insulator, nitric acid forming at the rubber
housing interface will not be concentrated high enough. As a
result, the critical chemical conditions for brittle fracture (acid
concentration) will not be satisfied [16]. It has been shown
Fig. 11. Cracks in rubber housing at different stages of their formation; (a)
that the critical pH for SCC in nitric acid for a polyester type partial crack and (b) through crack [14].
composite with E-glass fibers is somewhere between 3 and 3.5
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D.Causes of brittle fracture
Obviously, if one knows the causes of brittle fracture one
can also provide remedies. Therefore, a few different models
of brittle fracture have been proposed over the years. The
most important ones ( Models I-III) are listed below.
Model I. According to [22] “the failure of in-service NCI
in the brittle fracture mode can occur under the influence of
water and mechanical stresses, and the failure is more likely to
happen with water than with acids”.
Model II. According to [18,23] “the brittle fracture of the
FRP [Fiber Reinforced Polymer] rod of composite insulators
is associated with an acid, derived from the hardener, lodged
on the surface of the rod combined with the ingress of water at
the same location and a mechanical tension load applied to the
insulator.”
Model III. Brittle fracture is caused by nitric acid being
formed in service due to electrical discharge, ozone and
moisture [6,8-12,14-17,19-21,24-26]. The acid can either be
formed by water droplet coronas on the insulator surface near
its energized end or by PD inside the insulator, close to its
end.
The only agreement between Models I - III is that brittle
fracture is initiated by moisture ingress into a composite
insulator. The issue of the chemical causes of brittle fracture
has been recently discussed in [25]. In particular, the
credibility of the models I-III has been evaluated. It was
shown that the only model, which can explain all the aspects
of brittle fracture is Model III. This model also considers a
strong effect of the electric field on the brittle fracture process.
E. Manufacturing prevention
Design: For the prevention of brittle fracture of non-
ceramic insulators an excellent moisture seal and the use of
the proper sheath thickness are very important [1]. It has
already been recommended in [15] that a high quality sealant
should be used to protect the interface between the fitting and
the rod/housing. It has also been stated in [1] that the grading
ring is important since it will minimize corona cutting in the
rubber housing, which is certainly correct. However, none of
the field failed insulators described as Cases D and E of [1],
and other units from the same lines [9,10,14], showed any
evidence of any damage to the rubber housing from the
outside. Only in two insulators, which did not fail by brittle
fracture for Case E, numerous cracks were found in the
housing propagating from inside out (Fig. 11) [14]. Therefore,
it is doubtful that grading rings will prevent brittle fracture if
water ingress is allowed through the fitting. Since the failure
above the hardware, which is the most common type, is
associated with the movement of moisture along the rod near
the rod/housing interface, the grading will only postpone the
process, but do not prevent it.
1) Materials: If the GRP rods can fail by SCC when
exposed to nitric acid and mechanical tensile loads, the easiest
way to prevent this process from occurring in-service is by the
chemical optimization of the rods making them immune to
brittle fracture. Unidirectional glass/polymer composites, used
8
in the GRP rods, can be designed for their very high resistance
to SCC in nitric acid [19,21,24,25,36-40], high resistance to
moisture absorption [21,42], high resistance to mechanical
surface damage [21], high resistance to the development of
leakage currents [21,43], and to ozone exposure [21]. The
final recommendations on how to prevent brittle fracture by
the proper chemical composition of the GRP rods were given
in [25,52]. Below, the most important conclusions are listed
from our rod design research performed on several GRP rod
composites from a single supplier based on E-glass and ECR-
glass (with low and high seed counts) fibers embedded in the
modified polyester, epoxy and vinyl ester resins.
Resistance to SCC in Nitric Acid
The resistance to brittle fracture of insulator composites is
strongly affected by such factors as fiber and resin type,
surface fiber exposure, resin fracture toughness, moisture
absorption, and interfacial strength [19,21,24,25,27-41,52].
Out of three E-glass/polymer composites (based on modified
polyester, epoxy and vinyl ester resins), the resistance to the
initiation of SCC in nitric acid of E-glass/modified polyester
was found to be 10 times lower than for E-glass/epoxy, and
approximately 200 times lower than for E-glass/vinyl ester.
The ECR-glass/polymer composites exhibited vast
improvement over the E-glass/polymer materials. The highest
resistance to the initiation of SCC damage in the ECR glass-
based composites was found for the low seed ECR-glass
fibers embedded in either epoxy or vinyl ester resins. The
ECR glass composites were shown to be equally resistant to
the propagation of SCC even under highly accelerated testing
conditions, which was not the case for the E-glass fiber based
composites.
Resistance to Moisture Absorption
The resistance to moisture absorption of insulator
composites affects their insulation properties, resistance to
SCC and brittle fracture, and their overall mechanical
properties [19,21,42,43,52]. The E-glass-modified polyester
system exhibited by far the worst resistance to moisture
absorption with a very high rate of moisture diffusion and
high maximum moisture absorption in comparison with the
other two E-glass based materials. They had very similar rates
of moisture absorption, however the epoxy-based system did
take more moisture than the vinyl ester-based material. A
slight fiber effect was found to exist on the moisture
absorption properties of the composites based on the three
different resins. In general, composites based on the ECR
(high seed)-glass fibers took smaller amounts of moisture than
their E-glass and ECR-glass (low seed)-glass fiber-based
composites.
Resistance to Interfacial Failure
Interfacial splitting along the glass/fiber interfaces
accelerates brittle fracture and therefore should be minimized
[19,52]. The resistance of the interfaces to failure caused by
shear in dry E-glass/polymer composites was found to be the
lowest in E-glass/modified polyester followed by E-glass
epoxy (approximately 50% higher) and E-glass/vinyl ester
(approximately 4% higher) than for the epoxy based
composite). Immediately after full saturation with distilled
water at 50ºC the resistance to interfacial splitting was only
slightly reduced. The quality of the interfaces of the ECR-
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glass fiber composites has not been investigated. It can be
assumed however that their resistance to interfacial splitting
would be similar to the E-glass/polymer systems.
Resistance to Overcrimping Damage
If overcrimping can cause brittle fracture [1], it should be
minimized. It has been shown in our work that the resistance
to surface compression caused by crimping of the E-glass and
ECR-glass composites is scale dependent [21]. On a micro-
scale the vinyl ester based composites (with E-glass and ECR-
glass fiber) exhibited the highest resistance to compressive
surface damage, which was attributed to a high fracture
toughness of their resin. The resistance of the vinyl ester
based systems was followed by the epoxy and modified
polyester based composites. On a meso-scale, the resistance to
surface compression strictly depends on the amount of glass
fibers left exposed on the composite surfaces during
pultrusion. The macro-resistance, on the other hand, depends
on the type of fibers, polymers, and the strength of their
interfaces.
Resistance to Leakage Currents
The resistance to leakage currents of insulator composites
[21,43] could be more important for their insulation properties
than for their resistance to brittle fracture. The fact is however
that the electric field plays a critical role in brittle fracture
[25]. Therefore, high leakage currents could accelerate the
nitric acid formation process inside the insulators. After
boiling in deioniozed water with 0.1% (by weight) of NaCl for
four days, E-glass/modified polyester developed significantly
higher leakage current that the E-glass/epoxy and E-
glass/vinyl ester systems, caused by its high water absorption.
For the same amounts of absorbed moisture by their resins, the
ECR (high seed)-glass fiber composites developed several
hundred times higher leakage currents than their E-glass
counterparts. The leakage currents in the composites with
recently developed ECR (low seed)-glass fibers were similar
to the E-glass-based systems. The high leakage current for
high seed ECR-glass fiber composites subjected to moisture is
one of the major reasons why most manufacturers have not
used these materials until now.
Resistance to Ozone Damage
The three E-glass/polymer composites were exposed to
ozone for a period of nine days [21]. It was found that the
bonding environment in the modified polyester based
composite was severely compromised by ozone. The epoxy
based system showed similar evidence of damage, but to a
much smaller extent. The E-glass/vinyl ester material was
found to be the most resistant to ozone.
Ranking of Composites for Resistance to Brittle Fracture
We have not yet identified all critical material related
factors affecting brittle fracture. In addition, such known
factors as the resistance of insulator polymers and their
interfaces with glass fibers to the decomposition by discharge,
acids, electric wind, etc., has not been systematically
investigated. Also, no systematic studies of the resistance to
moisture movement along E-glass and ECR-glass composites
have been performed. Considering however the thoroughly
examined material properties of several different composite
systems for high voltage insulation applications, E-
glass/modified polyester exhibits by far the lowest resistance
9
to brittle fracture with the ECR (low seed)- glass/vinyl ester
being the best. The ECR (low seed)/epoxy and E-glass/vinyl
ester must also be ranked very high [52].
2) Process Controls: The GRP rods should be free from
large voids, cracks or any other type of macroscopic damage,
as stated in [1] to minimize the probability of brittle fracture.
Certainly, such material imperfections could create problems
caused by the development of PD especially in the presence of
moisture. However, such imperfections can easily develop in-
service if water is allowed into the insulators. [22]. Therefore,
the fact that voids and cracks are not present in the rods
during manufacturing does not mean that these imperfections
will not develop in service causing problems.
Some insulator manufacturers occasionally performed
sandblasting of their composite rods to increase adhesion
between the rods and the rubber housing [21,38,39,52].
During sandblasting the surface of the rods can be severely
damaged. This damage is usually created in the glass fibers
left on the composite surface. The initial assumption was that
sandblasting could have an extremely negative effect on the
resistance of the GRP rods to brittle fracture; therefore, this
effect was investigated in [21,38,39,52]. It was found however
that low/medium sandblasting could actually improve slightly
the resistance of the composites to SCC in nitric acid. This
was attributed to the relaxation of mechanical residual stresses
on the surface of the composites due to sandblasting. This
clearly indicates that not all types of damage to the composites
can negatively affect their resistance to brittle fracture.
It has been suggested in [1] that over-stressing the GRP rod
due to crimping can lead to brittle fracture. This is certainly an
important issue related to the insulator design and its
manufacturing. The fact is that extensive damage to the GRP
rods can be created by insulator manufacturers by applying
excessive crimping [44,47]. Therefore, this problem has been
investigated in great details by us in [19,21,44-48]. It has been
shown that overcrimping will certainly lead to the type of
fracture, which was described in Section II.B.1 of this work.
At the same time, not a single insulator failure by brittle
fracture initiated by overcrimping has been documented [1].
However, excessive and badly distributed crimping
deformations on the rod surface inside the fittings in
combination with high mechanical loads will significantly
increase the tensile axial stresses in the rods just outside the
fittings [44-48]. Then, if nitric acid is present on the surface of
the rod in this location, the probability of failure by brittle
fracture could increase due to the higher mechanical stresses.
The cracks caused by overcrimping [44,47], depending on
their location, size and orientation could reduce the resistance
of the insulators to brittle fracture. However, the critical
mechanical flaw size and type, and the loading conditions for
the initiation of SCC are unknown at present. Therefore, we
can also speculate which composite system (see the Materials
part of this section) will have the highest resistance to brittle
fracture if initiated by overcrimping. It can be safely
assumed, however, that the vinyl ester based composites will
have the highest resistance to brittle fracture due to its high
fracture toughness. Certainly more research is required to
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understand the effect of overcrimping on the initiation of
brittle fracture
F. User Prevention
Composite insulators should not be mechanically damaged
at any stage; manufacturing, transportation, installation.
Certainly, damage caused by mishandling “may result in a
brittle fracture or some other type of failure” as stated in [1].
However, the evaluation of the effect of mechanical damage
(of various types) on the electrical and mechanical in-service
performance of composite insulators is not a straightforward
problem. Numerous different types of failure caused by
mishandling can exist in non-ceramic insulators. At the same
time, we still do not know what is acceptable and what is not
regarding the mechanical damage and its effect on the short-
and long- term properties of the insulators and, in particular,
on brittle fracture.
The critical type of damage for the initiation of brittle
fracture in composite insulators subjected to the combined
effect of mechanical, electrical, and environmental stresses is
an issue which most likely is never going to be correctly
addressed. The best example of the complexity of this
problem is gun shot damage. In certain areas, the insulators
can be severely damaged by gunshots [51]. When damaged by
gunshots the insulators are entirely open to moisture ingress.
In addition, huge amounts of mechanical damage are created
to the GRP rods. It would be difficult to imagine any worse
type of mishandling of the insulators in-service than by
gunshots. Yet, not a single composite insulator has been
reported to fail by brittle fracture initiated by gunshots.
Therefore, the only credible recommendation, which can be
provided on how to avoid brittle fracture due to mishandling
is related to the moisture sealing conditions, which should
never be compromised during manufacturing, transportation
and installation.
III. CONCLUSIONS
The brittle fracture process in composite non-ceramic high
voltage insulators has been discussed in this study. This was
done partially to supplement the information recently provided
in [1]. The most important failure characteristics, examples
and causes of failure, and possible prevention methods have
been presented in this work in an attempt to improve the
current state of knowledge on brittle fracture of the insulators.
It has been shown that despite the recent major advances in
the failure analysis of the insulators there are still several
critical issues which need to be correctly addressed in the
future in order to fully understand this failure process and, in
particular, to be able to prevent it from occurring in-service.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author is especially grateful to Dr. J. Stringer and Dr.
A. Phillips of EPRI, Mr. C. Ek, D. Nicols and Mr. R. Stearns
of BPA, Mr. O. Perkins and Mr. F. Cook of WAPA, Mr. D.
Mitchell of APC, Mr. D. Shaffner of PG&E and Dr. T.S.
McQuarrie of Glasform, Inc. without whose technical and
10
financial support the insulator research at OGI and DU would
have not been possible. I am also very grateful to my
colleagues, Dr. P. K. Predecki, Dr. D. Armentrout and, in
particular, my son L. Kumosa for their help in the preparation
of this manuscript.
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[14] M. Kumosa and Q. Qiu, “Failure Investigation of 500 kV Non-ceramic
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[24] M. Kumosa, L. Kumosa and D. Armentrout, “Can Water Cause Brittle
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[25] M. Kumosa, L. Kumosa and D. Armentrout, “Causes and Potential
Remedies of Brittle Fracture Failures of Composite (Non-Ceramic)
Insulators,” IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation,
Vol. 11, No. 6, pp.1037-1048.
[26] A. R. Chughtai, D. M. Smith, L. S. Kumosa and M. Kumosa, FTIR
Analysis of Non-Ceramic Composite Insulators, IEEE Transactions on
Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 585-596, 2004
[27] D. Hull, M. Kumosa, J. N. Price, “Stress Corrosion of Aligned Glass
Fiber-Polyester Composite Material,” Materials Science and
Technology, Vol. 1, pp. 177 –182, 1985.
[28] M. Kumosa, D. Hull, J. N. Price, Acoustic Emission from Stress
Corrosion Cracks in Aligned GRP, J. of Materials Science, Vol. 22, pp.
331-336, 1987.
[29] M. Kumosa, “Acoustic Emission Monitoring of Stress Corrosion Cracks
in Aligned GRP,” J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. Vol. 20, pp. 69-74, 1987.
[30] Q. Qiu and M. Kumosa, “Corrosion of E-Glass Fibers in Acidic
Environments,” Composites Science and Technology, Vol. 57, pp. 497-
507, 1997.
[31] D. Armentrout, T. Ely, S. Carpenter and M. Kumosa, “An Investigation
of the Brittle Fracture in Composite Materials used for High Voltage
Insulators,” J. Acoustic Emission, Vol. 16, No. 1-4, pp. S10-S18, 1998.
[32] M. Kumosa et al., “Micro-Fracture Mechanisms in Glass/Polymer
Insulator Materials under the Combined Effect of Mechanical, Electrical
and Environmental Stresses,” Final report to BPA, APA, PG&E, WAPA
and NRECA, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, December 1998.
[33] S. H. Carpenter and M. Kumosa, “An Investigation of Brittle Fracture of
Composite Insulator Rods in an Acidic Environment with Static or
Cyclic Loading,” Journal of Materials Science, Vol. 35, Issue 17, pp.
4465-4476, 2000.
[34] T. Ely and M. Kumosa, “The Stress Corrosion Experiments on an E-
glass/Epoxy Unidirectional Composite,” J. Composite Materials, Vol.
34, pp. 841-878, 2000.
[35] T. Ely, D. Armentrout and M. Kumosa, “Evaluation of Stress Corrosion
Properties of Pultruded Glass Fiber/Polymer Composite Materials,” J.
Composite Materials, 35, pp. 751-773, 2001.
[36] M. Megel, L. Kumosa, T. Ely, D. Armentrout and M. Kumosa,
“Initiation of Stress Corrosion Cracking in Unidirectional Glass/Polymer
Composite Materials,” Composites Science and Technology, Vol. 61, pp.
231-246, 2001.
[37] L. Kumosa, D. Armentrout, M. Kumosa, “An Evaluation of the Critical
Conditions for the Initiation of Stress Corrosion Cracking in
Unidirectional E-glass/Polymer Composites,” Composites Science and
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[38] L. Kumosa, D. Armentrout and M. Kumosa, “The Effect of Sandblasting
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11
[39] L. Kumosa, M. Kumosa and D. Armentrout, “Resistance to Stress
Corrosion Cracking of Unidirectional Glass/Polymer Composites Based
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[40] D. Armentrout, M. Kumosa and T. S. McQuarrie, “Boron Free Fibers for
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[41] D. Armentrout, M. Gentz, L. Kumosa, B. Benedikt and M. Kumosa,
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Composite Subjected to Static and Cyclic Loading Conditions,”
Composites Technology & Research, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 202-218, 2003.
[42] L. Kumosa, B. Benedikt, D. Armentrout and M. Kumosa, “Moistures
Absorption Properties of Unidirectional Glass/Polymer Composites
Used in Non-Ceramic Insulators”, Composites Part A, Vol. 35, pp.
1049-1063, 2004.
[43] D. Armentrout, M. Kumosa and L. Kumosa, “Water Diffusion into and
Electrical Testing of Composite Insulator GRP Rods”, IEEE
Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, in press, Vol. 11,
No. 3, pp. 506-522, 2004.
[44] M. Kumosa, “Analytical and Experimental Studies of Substation NCIs,”
Final Report to the Bonneville Power Administration, Oregon Graduate
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[45] A. Bansal, A. Schubert, M. V. Balakrishnan and M. Kumosa, “Finite
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Science and Technology, Vol. 55, pp. 375-389, 1995.
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Composite Insulators with Crimped End-Fittings,” Journal of Composite
Materials, Vol. 31, No 20, pp. 2074-2104, 1997.
[47] M. Kumosa, Y. Han and L. Kumosa, “Analyses of Composite Insulators
with Crimped End-Fittings: Part I – Non-linear Finite Element
Computations,” Composites Science and Technology, Vol. 62, pp. 1191-
1207, 2002.
[48] M. Kumosa, D. Armentrout, L. Kumosa, Y. Han and S.H. Carpenter,
“Analyses of Composite Insulators with Crimped End-Fittings: Part II –
Suitable Crimping Conditions,” Composites Science and Technology,
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[52] L. Kumosa, M. Kumosa and D. Armentrout, “Resistance to Brittle
Fracture of Glass Reinforced Polymer Composites Used in Composite
(Non-Ceramic) Insulators”, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, in
press, 2005.
Maciej S. Kumosa received his Master’s and
Ph.D. degrees in Applied Mechanics and
Materials Science in 1978 and 1982 from the
Technical University of Wroclaw in Poland.
He is currently a Professor of Mechanical
Engineering and the Director of the Center for
Advanced Materials and Structures at the
University of Denver. In the past, Dr. Kumosa
worked six years at the University of
Cambridge in England. Between 1990 and
1997 he was an Associate Professor of
Materials Science and Electrical Engineering
at the Oregon Graduate Institute in Portland,
Oregon. Dr. Kumosa’s research interests include the experimental and
numerical fracture analyses of advanced composite systems for electrical and
aerospace applications. He has performed research for a variety of funding
agencies in the US including the National Science Foundation, Air Force
Office of Scientific Research, NASA Glenn, Electric Power Research Institute
and a consortium of US electric utilities and insulator manufacturers
consisting of the Bonneville Power Administration, Western Area Power
Administration, Alabama Power Company, Pacific Gas and Electric Company
and National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Glasforms, Inc. and
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NGK-Locke. Dr. Kumosa has published over 85 publications in numerous

composites, materials science, applied physics, applied mechanics, general
science and IEEE international journals, and 45 publications in conference
proceedings. Dr. Kumosa is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of
Composites Science and Technology (http://myprofile.cos.com/mkumosa).