Intrinsic-like surface flashover voltage of insulators

The parameter for indicating the characteristics of the surface flashover voltage in vacuum is studied. Experiment results show that, compared with another conditioning method, the flashover voltages of ablative materials obtained by the multi-round stepped increasing voltage method (termed MRSIVM) are increased by 100-200%. This flashover voltage is defined as the intrinsic-like surface flashover voltage (termed ILSFV). The mechanism and significance of ILSFV are studied. After the testing process of MRSIVM, dielectric surface achieves a relatively stable state and the influence of random factors is reduced. The amplitude of ILSFV is higher and the scatter of that is smaller. In addition, the ILSFV stands for an attainable insulation level. So it is more appropriate to represent the surface flashover characteristic of the insulating material by ILSFV.