Polarity Effects of Propylene Carbonate on Breakdown Strength in Microsecond Range

We investigate the polarity effects of the propylene carbonate on the breakdown voltage using the needle-plate electrodes with gaps of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mm. The devices used in this study involve a compact capacitive-energy-storage pulse power source with charging time varying from 5 ms to 20 ms and a test cell with the needle-plate electrodes. The breakdown voltage is recorded by a digital oscilloscope for each gap. The results of these three groups indicate that the positive breakdown voltage is higher than the negative one and the breakdown voltage of the PC increases with the ascending electrode gap. In addition, a simulation isconducted to support this experiment. Some explanations about the polarity effect of the PC are also given.