Corona Discharge and Ageing Process of an Insulation

Corona discharge study has been made considering the discharge as a streamer-like process. Having previously compared the effect of uv radiations and low energy particles such as electrons and positive ions by means of an infrared analysis, experiments have now been carried out with ions lower than 30 eV. Though the ions seem to be more effective particles, their impact did not give as much degradation as that due to disarges. An ultraviolet spectroscopy analysis is used to show the presumed increase in conductivity. In conclusion, future work on the subject is proposed in order to elucidate the surface transformations and the breakdown of insulating materials. Indeed few results are known of the effect of neutral and negative particles on the simultaneous ageing of the discharge constituents.