Partial discharge modelling and measurements on micrometer voids in solid dielectrics

In this paper we present measured partial discharge current waveforms for micrometer voids in PTFE (teflon) and PC (polycarbonate). From the time-resolved partial discharge current waveforms detailed information on discharge mechanisms is obtained. The experimental studies show that the measured values for the inception voltage correspond well with calculated inception voltages based on the critical streamer criterion. The trends of externally measured quantities correspond with those predicted by our models and seem to hold their validity for micrometer voids