Effect of Temperature on Breakdown Characteristics of Propylene Carbonate Under Microsecond Pulse

Propylene carbonate (PC) has a good application prospect in compact pulsed power source as the energy storage medium of pulse forming line. However, its insulation strength is susceptible to impurities, temperature, pressure, and other factors. Hence, it is of great significance to study the effect of temperature on breakdown characteristics of propylene carbonate. In this paper, the effect of temperature on breakdown characteristics of PC was carried out under microsecond pulse. First, pulsed breakdown setup was built. The temperature of PC varied from -50 °C to 50 °C. Breakdown voltages were captured with a capacitive voltage divider and streamer patterns are obtained by ultrahigh-speed cameras. Second, the experimental results are obtained. The breakdown strength of PC increases with increasing temperature. It is 239 kV/cm at -50 °C and rises to 407 kV/cm at 50 °C. At low-temperature breakdown, electron current is more concentrated and breakdown voltage is more stable. Moreover, the energy release for streamer at low temperature is more concentrated, but it is more dispersed for streamer at high temperature. At last, considering the CO
₂
solubility in PC, PC generates more bubbles and the increase of temperature benefits the release of bubbles at low temperature, resulting in lower breakdown strength. Because of the moisture in PC, breakdown strength of PC falls slightly near 0 °C. Thus, the experimental results are explained by use of stream theory and bubble breakdown theory. PC can adapt to wide-range temperatures, effectively expanding practical applications of the PC in pulsed power source.