In 1980s, Tsinghua University, Wuhan Institute of water and electricity and other units started the development of composite insulator under the support of the national "Seventh Five Year Plan". The materials of umbrella skirts of both units were made of high temperature vulcanized silicone rubber, and the connection between fittings and epoxy FRP core rods adopted different technical routes. Tsinghua University adopted internal wedge structure. Wuhan Institute of water resources and electricity adopts the external wedge structure. The scientific and technological achievements of the two schools are transferred to enterprises and transformed into productive forces. At first, the power operation Department was suspicious of the performance of composite insulator and was cautious about the operation of the hanging network. Only a small number of test pieces were hung on the unimportant line with voltage level below 110 kV for live assessment. In 1990, there was a large scale serious pollution flashover accident in North China. The composite insulator tested showed excellent anti pollution flashover ability, which was liked by the power operation units. Many departments took the initiative to adopt this new technology to expand the scale and scope of trial operation, greatly improved the anti pollution flashover capacity of transmission and distribution lines, and reduced the workload of line cleaning, Therefore, it is welcomed by the power operation unit. After several years of operation assessment, the power department confirmed that composite insulator is a new technology of anti pollution flashover and has begun to be applied in the voltage level of Er 110kV or above.

In the early stage of composite insulator use, the power operation department took a cautious attitude towards using composite insulator on 500 kV voltage grade transmission line, especially emphasized the operation experience. Therefore, several groups of composite insulator hanging network operation were imported from the composite insulator manufacturers such as the United States and Germany, and the 500 kV composite insulator produced in China also hung up the network successively. After more than ten years of test, the operation practice shows that the quality of domestic composite insulator is no inferior to that of imported ones.

In the fields of composite insulator, researchers have made a lot of and continuous research on the development, technology, materials, test method, aging, mechanical properties, brittle fracture, umbrella group cutting and high altitude problems. These researches provide solid technical support for the development and quality assurance of composite insulator in China