New development of microstack insulator technology

Microstack insulators were developed to satisfy application demands for pulsed power system high performance and miniaturization. Using a high temperature lamination method, we manufactured two types of microstack insulators from interleaved layers of brass and polyimide (PI) and from stainless steel and fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP). The surface state and vacuum out-gassing characteristics of these microstack insulator samples were measured. Then using a nanosecond (10 ns/30 ns) pulse source with a Marx generator and a single coaxial pulse-forming line, the vacuum surface flashover characteristics of samples were tested. The results show that flashover takes place during the rising period of the voltage, and the maximum vacuum flashover field intensity for microstack insulator samples is close to 180 kV/cm. Based on the preceding work, the high frequency dielectric constants of microstack insulators were also measured using an impedance analyzer. The results show that microstack insulators have better high frequency dielectric performance than conventional insulation materials.