Understanding the Interfacial Behavior of Cycloaliphatic-like Epoxy Resin with Optical Fibers: Insights from Experiments and Molecular Simulations

Optical fiber composite insulators are essential for photoelectric current measurement, yet insulation failure at embedded optical fiber interfaces remains a major challenge to long-term stability. This study proposes a strategy to replace conventional silicone rubber with cycloaliphatic-like epoxy resin (CEP) as the shed-sheathing material. Three optical fibers with distinct outer coatings, ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (ETFE), thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPEE), and epoxy acrylate resin (EA), were evaluated for their interfacial compatibility with CEP. ETFE, with low surface energy and weak polarity, exhibited poor wettability with CEP, resulting in an interfacial tensile strength of 0 MPa, pronounced dye penetration, and rapid electrical tree propagation. Its average interfacial breakdown voltage was only 8 kV, and the interfacial leakage current reached 35 μA after hygrothermal aging. In contrast, TPEE exhibited high surface energy and strong polarity, enabling strong bonding with CEP, yielding an average interfacial tensile strength of approximately 46 MPa. Such a strong interface effectively suppressed electrical tree growth, increased the average interfacial breakdown voltage to 27 kV, and maintained the interfacial leakage current below 5 μA even after hygrothermal aging. EA exhibited moderate interfacial performance. Mechanism analysis revealed that polar ester and ether groups in TPEE enhanced interfacial electrostatic interactions, restricted the mobility of CEP molecular chain segments, and increased charge traps. These synergistic effects suppressed interfacial charge transport and improved insulation strength. This work offers valuable insight into structure-property relationships at fiber-resin interfaces and provides a useful reference for the design of composite insulation materials.