Dynamic behavior of surface charge on direct- fluorinated polyimide films

Polyimide film, as a special type of engineering plastic film, is a kind of basic insulating material and is widely applied in the aerial, nuclear, microelectronic industry, turn to turn insulation and turn to ground insulation of inverter-fed motors. However, premature insulation failures occur frequently in motors with the disadvantage of pure PI inherent in all organic materials. The existence of surface charge has a great effect on breakdown characteristic and is the main reason leading to dielectric breakdown. Fluorination as change the chemical component in surface layer of polymers should give rise to the corresponding change in electrical properties of the surface layer thus influence the charge injection from electrodes when they are used as an insulator. This paper presents a study aimed at clarifying the effect of fluorination time on surface charge accumulation and decay behaviors of fluorinated polyimide film. Samples were surface fluorinated in a laboratory vessel at about 328 K (55 °C) using a F2/N2 mixture with 20% F2 by volume and 0.05 MPa (500 mbar) for respectively 15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes. Corona charging tests were performed at room temperature with a relative humidity of ~ 40%. The charge distribution was measured by means of an electrostatic voltmeter. Obtained results show the dependence of the charge density as well as the charge decay rate upon the fluorination time of samples, varying as a function of the charge polarity and charging time. It is suggested that the fluorination can significantly improve the decay rate of the surface charge in polyimide films.