Abstract
Experimental measurements of the positive and negative breakdown voltages of point-to-plane gap in air at atmospheric and subatmospheric pressures are reported. The measurements were conducted with smooth and rough planes. It has been realized that the surface state of the plane significantly affects the negative breakdown voltage, and appears to have little, if any, influence upon the positive breakdown voltage. This means that such a surface state satisfies a condition at the plane to trigger the negative and not the positive breakdown. This condition is formulated in an attempt to estimate the negative - different from the positive - breakdown voltage. The estimated values of breakdown voltage do not deviate more than plus or minus 10% from those measured experimentally.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 108-114 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | NASA Conference Publication |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1980 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Aerospace Engineering