Insulation and breakdown studies in pressurized fluorocarbons

Electrical power requirements are increasing at the rate of 7 percent per year, or doubling every 10 years. Furthermore, transmission voltages have continued to increase — 110, 230, 345, 500 to 765 and possibly 1,000 kV. The aerospace industry has witnessed an even faster growth in postwar years, and more recently the application of pulsed electron beam, flash x-ray, and accelerator technology to high-energy physics, communications, weapons effects simulation, and other areas has developed an explosive need for high-voltage, high-power systems and auxiliary equipment. All this reduces to an ever-increasing demand for flexible selective media which will satisfy diverse insulation and switching requirements. This report describes a preliminary program whose aim was to provide initial evaluation of the feasibility and suitability of using selected fluorocarbons or mixtures of them with other gases as the dielectric media for some of the above applications.