Light emission in PE with a needle-like microvoid at the metal-polymer interface under impulse voltages

Light emission from polyethylene with a needle-like microvoid has been investigated under the application of a negative impulse voltage in order to examine the temporal behavior of discharge in the microvoid at the metal-polymer interface. The light emission was observed distinctly during the voltage rise and fall phases with a period of no light emission between the two light emitting phases. The emitted light consisted of sequential light pulses which appeared regularly, according to the temporal variation rate of the voltage. The sequential light pulses corresponded to the sequential discharge in the microvoid which occurred to keep the voltage across the microvoid below the discharge inception voltage. The characteristics of light emission revealed the occurrence of intermittent discharges in the microvoid during the voltage variation phase of the impulse voltage, caused by charge deposition on the polymer surface of the microvoid.