{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T11:19:16Z","timestamp":1785410356068,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,23]],"date-time":"2026-06-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782172800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100010880","name":"State Grid Corporation of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["5500-202024073A-0-0-00"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["5500-202024073A-0-0-00"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100010880","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["5500-202024073A-0-0-00"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["5500-202024073A-0-0-00"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05twwhs70","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Polymers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study investigates the decay-like degradation mechanisms of the matrix material in composite insulators, focusing on the pronounced influence of humid environments on partial discharge (PD) characteristics and degradation pathways. A sealed chamber discharge platform was established, integrating PD signal monitoring, surface characterization, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with molecular network analysis to examine the synergistic effects of thermal influences from PD and active atmospheric particles at humidity levels of 0% RH, 50% RH, and 100% RH. Results show that dry conditions favor high-energy, low-repetition-rate discharges, promoting cleavage and recombination of high-bond-energy bonds (e.g., benzene rings and (\u03b1)C\u2013O), yielding primarily long-chain carboxylic acids (C9 and above). In contrast, humid conditions shift to low-energy, high-repetition-rate discharges, with water vapor decomposition generating highly oxidizing hydroxyl radicals (\u00b7OH). These facilitate selective scission of lower-bond-energy (\u03b2)C\u2013O bonds and deep oxidation, significantly increasing short-chain dicarboxylic acids\u2014especially oxalic acid\u2014whose acidity and water solubility are nearly an order of magnitude higher than in dry environments, becoming the dominant acidic products. The work demonstrates that many PD-generated organic acids act as intrinsic corrosive agents in insulating systems, independent of ambient nitric acid. This elucidates, at the reaction pathway level, how high humidity modulates PD to enhance corrosive acid production, providing a microchemical basis for understanding regional decay-like failure patterns in composite insulators.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/polym18131556","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,23]],"date-time":"2026-06-23T06:13:37Z","timestamp":1782195217000},"page":"1556","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Intrinsic Chemical Consequences of Interface Failure in Composite Insulators Under Electrical Stress: PD-Induced Degradation of Epoxy\/Anhydride Matrix and the Role of Humidity"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Kexin","family":"Shi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Pulsed Power Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430074, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Advanced Electromagnetic Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dandan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Pulsed Power Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430074, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Advanced Electromagnetic Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4357-3776","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhiyu","family":"Wan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Pulsed Power Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430074, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Advanced Electromagnetic Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lixue","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Pulsed Power Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430074, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Advanced Electromagnetic Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhaohua","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Pulsed Power Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430074, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Advanced Electromagnetic Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"110","DOI":"10.1109\/TDEI.2018.006773","article-title":"Decay-like fracture mechanism of silicone rubber composite insulator","volume":"25","author":"Liang","year":"2018","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. 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