Determination of electric breakdown strength for various materials in pure water

Abstract

The authors present results of experiments designed to maximize the electric breakdown strength of pure water subject to high-voltage pulses and effective stress times in excess of 50 ms. Several hypotheses for improving voltage holdoff are presented and evaluated: charge injection from the electrodes, potential-of-zero-charge (PZC) and other electromechanical effects in the interfacial double-layer, the effect of oxide coating, micron-sized particles in the water, and organic contamination. A description of the apparatus and test procedures is included. >