Characterization of pulse induced plasma fueled by aluminum metallization

Plasmas induced by contaminated surface flashover of insulators can produce serious detrimental effects to the energy systems that incur them. Studies at the Energy Systems Institute (ESI) at the University at Buffalo and the Advanced Energy Armaments Systems Center (AEAS) of U.S. Army ARDEC have been focusing on flashover of thin metallized films for use in low energy light sources. The film under test is capacitor grade metallized polypropylene film cut to dimensions of 12" × 3/4". Flashover is initiated via a 2 μF capacitor charged to 2500 Vdc and that is then discharged directly through the film via stainless steel electrodes. Characterization of the flashover is performed through current and voltage probes and photodiodes. Three photodiodes were used to measure the spectral intensity of the thin film flashover. These intensities are in the spectrum of far red, infrared, and visible light. These preliminary investigations will aid in the further development of low energy light sources.