The manufacturing process of high voltage cable head has always been a difficult problem due to the enclosed structure

complex components and high requirements of electric field uniformity. On the basis of infrared temperature measurement

ultrasonic and highfrequency current testing

X-ray absorption contrast imaging technology is introduced to carry out the nondestructive testing for power cable head. Through the comprehensive diagnosis of various methods and disassembly

an insulation discharge case of a 35 kV single corehigh voltage cable head is analyzed in detail. The analysis results show that X-ray absorption contrast imaging technology can effectively help to determine defects such as holes and cracks which are formed in manufacturing process or ageing process

and mutual verification of various methods can improve the accuracy of qualitative analysis for the defects. The proposed X-ray absorption contrast imaging technology is firstly applied to engineering

which realizes searching defects by images

and improves the direct visualization and reliability of defects diagnosis for power cables.