This paper reports on the result of space charge evolution in cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) planar samples approximately 220 µm thick. The space charge measurement technique used in this study is the pulsed electroacoustic method. There are two phases to this experiment. In the first phase, the samples were subjected to dc 30 kV dc mm −1 and ac (sinusoidal) electric stress levels of 30 kV pk mm −1 at frequencies of 1, 10 and 50 Hz ac. In addition, ac space charge under 30 kV rms mm −1 and 60

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... kV pk mm −1 electric stress at 50 Hz was also investigated. The volts-off results showed that the amount of charge trapped in XLPE sample under dc electric stress is significantly bigger than samples under ac stress even when the applied ac stresses are substantially higher. The second phase of the experiment involves studying the dc space charge evolution in samples that were tested under ac stress during the first phase of the experiment. Ac ageing causes positive charge to become more dominant over negative charge. It was also discovered that ac ageing creates deeper traps, particularly for negative charge. This paper also gives a brief overview of the data processing methods used to analyse space charge under ac electric stress.