High field conduction and space charge formation up to electrical breakdown in acetophenone-coated polyethylene film

This paper describes the effects of polarity of applied voltage on electrical conduction and space charge formation up to electric breakdown in one-sidely acetophenone-coated low-density polyethylene (LDPE) film. At the field before electrical breakdown, negative space charge was formed in the bulk regardless of the polarity of acetophenone coated electrode. The field at positive electrode was larger than that at negative one and the field at positive electrode in case of negative acetophenone-coated electrode was more enhanced than me applied field. The dielectric constant evaluated by Schottky-plot on the space charge modified field at both electrode near the breakdown field in acetophenone-coated LDPE film is about 2 to 9. These values are in the same order with the value (about 3) obtained by capacitance measurement. These results suggest that the carrier injection or extraction at acetophenone-coated electrode should play more important role in the high field conduction in acetophenone-coated LDPE film.