Effect of Acetophenone on High-field Conduction and Space Charge Profiles in LDPE Films

Abstract

This paper describes the effects of polarity of applied voltage on electrical conduction and space charge formation up to electric breakdown in one-sided acetophenone-coated low-density polyethylene (LDPE) film. At the field before electrical breakdown, negative space charge accumulation was formed in the bulk regardless of the polarity of electrode with acetophenone coating. The field at positive electrode was larger than the field at negative electrode and that field in case of negative acetophenone-coated electrode was more enhanced than applied field. The dielectric constant is evaluated by Schottky-plot on the field near breakdown field modified by the space charge effect at both electrodes in acetophenone-coated LDPE film, which is about 2 to 9. The value of dielectric constant evaluated on the field modified by the space charge effect at acetophenone-coated electrode is especially in the same order to the value (about 3) obtained by capacitance measurement. From this result, it is considered that high field conduction in acetophenone-coated LDPE is affected by the carrier injection or extraction at acetophenone-coated electrode.