An experimental investigation of electric flashover across solid insulators in vacuum

The insulation of high voltage conductors often employs solid insulators for many applications. In such applications, an unexpected electric flashover may occur along the insulator surface. Under conditions of high vacuum, the flashover voltage across the insulator is observed to be lower compared with that of the same electrode separation without an insulator. The reason for such an extreme reduction of flashover voltage is not well understood. Several models based on the secondary electron emission, were proposed to explain the onset of the surface flashover. The starting point and the developing velocity of the surface flashover were determined. An intensified image converter camera was used to observe the initial stage of electrical flashover along the insulator surface parallel to the electric field. Several different insulator materials were used as test pieces to determine the effect of the dielectric constant on the flashover voltage characteristics.