The creation of composite insulator started before the 1960s. This new insulator was firstly applied in America and then in France and Germany soon afterwards.
It was quite slow for user to accept insulator with silicone rubber material in the beginning as most technical innovation would have some key problems to solve in the history. What’s more, the initial price of composite insulators made them impossible to be applied widely.
But things are changing, with the rapid progress of production technics and manufacturers, the cost of composite insulators have fallen down the past 20 years and now composite insulators are occupying more than 50% of the world market. Being a priority in purchasing options in some countries, composite insulators today often counts less in cost than porcelain insulators and glass insulators which were competitive counterparts in the past.