Rapid Evaluation Method of Low-Temperature Performance for Chlorinated Polyethylene Sheathing Materials Based on Principal Component Analysis

To address limitations of existing evaluation methods for the low-temperature performance of chlorinated polyethylene cable sheathing materials, a rapid multi-scale evaluation system based on principal component analysis (PCA) was proposed. By integrating data from brittleness temperature (T_b), temperature retraction (T_R), glass transition temperature by dynamic mechanical analysis (T_gDMA), and elongation at break in low temperature (E_b), the following findings were obtained. In the combination of T_b, T_gDMA and E_b, contribution rate of PC1 could reach 61.32%, with PC1 scores exhibiting a negative correlation with low-temperature torsion test results (r=−0.83). While, in the combination of T_b, temperature retraction at 10% (T_R10) and E_b, contribution rate of PC1 was 48.65%, and PC1 scores showed a positive correlation with low-temperature torsion test results (r=0.63); Results showed that the model could reduce testing time by over 50% and improve data interpretability by 30%. Although the limited sample size (n=11) necessitated validation with larger datasets, the proposed multi-scale evaluation framework for low-temperature performance based on PCA could provide an innovative methodological reference for rapid material screening or optimization of formulations and processing techniques.