The ultraviolet (UV) irradiation crosslinking reactions of polyethylene and the electronic properties of photo-initiators and reaction products are theoretically investigated by the first-principles calculations. The crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE) materials are prepared in experiments that employ the UV-initiated crosslinking technique with different photon-initiation systems. Infrared spectrum and the alternating current dielectric breakdown strength of UV-initiated XLPE are tested to explore the effect of reaction products on the breakdown characteristics in combination with the electron structure calculations. The theoretical calculations indicate that the 4-hydroxybenzophenone laurate, which is compatible with polyethylene, can effectively initiate crosslinking reactions of polyethylene molecules under UV photon excitation and will produce reaction by-products from carbonyl radicals; as a macromolecular auxiliary crosslinker, the monomer or homopolymer of dioleyl-2,2′,4,4′-tetraallyl isocyanurate can form chemical connections with multiple polyethylene molecules acting as a crosslinking node in a photon-initiated reaction process. The carbonyl, hydroxyl, or ester groups of reaction by-products are capable of capturing hot electrons to prevent polyethylene molecules from impact ionization, and thus will increase the breakdown electric field. The macromolecular auxiliary crosslinker and the macromolecular photon initiator as well as its reaction by-product can convert the energy of their captured high-energy electrons into heat, which can act as a voltage stabilizer. The molecule characterization of infrared spectra demonstrates that the characteristic absorption peaks of the carbonyl in the macromolecular photon initiator and the allyl in the macromolecular auxiliary crosslinking agent are gradually decreasing in intensity as the crosslinking reaction proceeds, which is consistent with the conclusion from theoretical calculations. Compared with the small molecular photon-initiation system generally used in the photon-initiated crosslinking process, the higher dielectric breakdown field of XLPE being prepared by utilizing a macromolecular photon-initiation system is in good agreement with the calculation results of electronic affinity and ionization potential. The consistent results of the experiments and first-principles calculations elucidate the fundamental mechanism of the UV-initiation crosslinking technique and suggest a prospective routine to improve the insulation strength for developing high-voltage XLPE insulating materials.

Modified crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE) with appreciably enhanced DC electrical insulation properties has been developed by chemical modification of grafting chloroacetic acid allyl ester (CAAE), exploring the trapping mechanism of charge transport inhibition. The bound state traps deriving from grafted molecule are analyzed by first-principles calculations, in combination with the electrical DC conductivity and dielectric breakdown strength experiments to study the underlying mechanism of improving the electrical insulation properties. In contrast to pure XLPE, the XLPE-graft-CAAE represents significantly suppressed space charge accumulation, increased breakdown strength, and reduced conductivity. The substantial deep traps are generated in XLPE-graft-CAAE molecules by polar group of grafted CAAE and accordingly decrease charge mobility and raise charge injection barrier, consequently suppressing space charge accumulation and charge carrier transport. The well agreement of experiments and quantum mechanics calculations suggests a prospective material modification strategy for achieving high-voltage polymer dielectric materials without nanotechnology difficulties as for nanodielectrics.

Significant microscopic information about fundamental magnetic interactions of magnetic materials is probed via the critical behavior of paramagnetic-ferromagnetic phase transition. In this work, we demonstrate that the critical behavior of cubic single crystalline FeGe belongs to the isotropic 3D-Heisenberg universality class by measuring the field dependence of magnetic entropy change. The above transition is one of the magnetic field-driven phase transitions but has a feature of the crossover from first- to second-order phase transition. A phenomenological model based on the evolution of magnetic skyrmions was proposed to qualitatively understand the phase transition.

In order to improve the mechanical and dielectric properties of radome cyanate, a synergistic reinforcement method is employed to develop a resin-based ternary-composite with high heat-resistance and preferable radar-band transmission, which is expected to be applied to fabricate radomes capable of resisting high temperature and strong electric field. According to copolymerization characteristics and self-curing mechanism, epoxy resin (EP) and bismaleimide (BMI) are employed as reinforcements mixed into a cyanate ester (CE) matrix to prepare CE/BMI/EP composites of a heat-resistant radome material by high-temperature viscous-flow blending methods under the catalysis of aluminum acetylpyruvate. The crystallization temperature, transition heat, and reaction rate of cured polymers were tested to analyze heat-resistance characteristics and evaluate material synthesis processes. Scanning electron microscopy was used to characterize the micro-morphology of tensile fracture, which was combined with the tensile strength test and dynamic thermomechanical analysis to investigate the composite modifications on tenacity and rigidity. Weibull statistics were performed to analyze the experimental results of the dielectric breakdown field, and the dielectric-polarization and wave-transmission performances were investigated according to alternative current dielectric spectra. Compared with the pure CE and the CE composites individually reinforced by EP or BMI, the CE/BMI/EP composite acquires the most significant amelioration in both the mechanical and electrical insulation performances as indicated by the breaking elongation and dielectric breakdown strength being simultaneously improved by 40%, which are consistently manifested by the obviously increased transverse lines uniformly distributed on the fracture cross-section. Furthermore, the glass-transition temperature of CE/BMI/EP composite reaches the highest values of nearly 300 °C, with the relative dielectric constant and dielectric loss being mostly reduced to less than 3.2 and 0.01, respectively. The experimental results demonstrate that the CE/BMI/EP composite is a highly-qualified wave-transmission material with preferences in mechanical, thermostability, and electrical insulation performances, suggesting its prospective applications in low-frequency transmittance radomes.

In order to elucidate mechanical impacts affecting the insulation strength of thermal‐ageing oil‐impregnated pressboards, we perform mechanical degradation experiments of impacting forces that are represented as the winding‐suffered stresses on thermal‐ageing oil‐paper insulation in transient short‐circuit of transformer. Water content, degree of polymerisation (DP), partial discharge inception voltage and AC breakdown field strength are tested and analysed for diverse thermal‐ageing levels. An analytical model of mechanical degradation is established by relating dielectric breakdown strength to mechanical impact. Mechanical impacts result in less water content in thermal‐aging oil‐impregnated pressboards while causing reduction and increment of DP, respectively, in mildly and severely aged oil‐impregnated pressboards. Partial discharge inception voltage and dielectric breakdown strength vary significantly with the numbers of impact cycles, showing a maximum value under low‐intensity impact and decreasing monotonously under high‐intensity impact. High‐intensity mechanical impacts will evidently exacerbate the thermal deterioration process of oil‐impregnated pressboards, which is primarily attributed to cellulose fibre fractures in pressboard cracks produced by equivalent tensile stress of mechanical impacts. It is acceptable for mildly aged oil‐impregnated pressboards to suffer low‐intensity mechanical impacts that will alleviate insulation degradation by restraining partial discharge in smaller oil‐gaps and prolonging breakdown discharge pathways along impact‐caused cracks.

Phonon and spintronic structures of monolayered Janus vanadium-dichalcogenide compounds are calculated by the first-principles schemes of pseudopotential plane-wave based on spin-density functional theory, to study dynamic structural stability and electronic spin-splitting due to spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and spin polarization. Geometry optimizations and phonon-dispersion spectra demonstrate that vanadium-dichalcogenide monolayers possess a high enough cohesive energy, while VSTe and VTe₂ monolayers specially possess a relatively higher in-plane elastic coefficient and represent a dynamically stable structure without any virtual frequency of atomic vibration modes. Atomic population charges and electron density differences demonstrate that V–Te covalent bonds cause a high electrostatic potential gradient perpendicular to layer-plane internal VSTe and VSeTe monolayers. The spin polarization of vanadium 3d-orbital component causes a pronounced energetic spin-splitting of electronic-states near the Fermi level, leading to a semimetal band-structure and increasing optoelectronic band-gap. Rashba spin-splitting around G point in Brillouin zone can be specifically introduced into Janus VSeTe monolayer by strong chalcogen SOC together with a high intrinsic electric field (potential gradient) perpendicular to layer-plane. The vertical splitting of band-edge at K point can be enhanced by a stronger SOC of the chalcogen elements with larger atom numbers for constituting Janus V-dichalcogenide monolayers. The collinear spin-polarization causes the band-edge spin-splitting across Fermi level and leads to a ferrimagnetic order in layer-plane between V and chalcogen cations with higher α and β spin densities, respectively, which accounts for a large net spin as manifested more apparently in VSeTe monolayer. In a conclusion for Janus vanadium-dichalcogenide monolayers, the significant Rashba splitting with an enhanced K-point vertical splitting can be effectively introduced by a strong SOC in VSeTe monolayer, which simultaneously represents the largest net spin of 1.64 (ћ/2) per unit cell. The present study provides a normative scheme for first-principles electronic structure calculations of spintronic low-dimensional materials, and suggests a prospective extension of two-dimensional compound materials applied to spintronics.