Study of the mechanisms of barrier discharge development in the needle–plane system

Abstract

The dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) was studied in three experimental configurations: “needle–polymer barrier–plane”, “needle–submillimeter air gap–polymer barrier–plane,” and“needle–submillimeter air gap–metal disk–polymer barrier–plane”. In the first case, only the DBD surface phase occurred (i.e., surface discharge), in the second case both surface and volume phases took place (i.e., typical DBD), and in the third case only the volume phase occurred (i.e., air–gap breakdown). A polyethylene terephthalate film 100 μm thick was used as a barrier. The discharge voltage, the discharge current pulse, the transferred charge, and the spatial distribution of the surface charge density were measured during the experiments. It was experimentally shown that the surface phase of the DBD has a substantial impact on the whole discharge process. The data indicate that the placement of a metal disk with a floating potential on the barrier surface causes the initiation of an atmospheric pressure glow discharge.