Breakdown characteristics of propylene carbonate under microsecond pulse

An electrical breakdown experiment for propylene carbonate with microsecond charging was carried out, in which a compact pulsed power generator based on the Tesla transformer was used as the pulsed voltage source, and a container with spherical electrodes was used as the test cell. The experimental results were presented and analyzed. The conclusions are as follows: For propylene carbonate, its breakdown strength is equal to water dielectrics and its actual measurement resistivity is bigger than 10 Mcm. Moreover, its theoretical operation temperature can arrive -55 centigrade and dielectric constant can improve to 80 through adding ethylene carbonate. Using propylene carbonate and ethylene carbonate / propylene carbonate mixture for a pulse forming line, a practical device will not require the additional processing system, that is conducive to the compact size and miniaturization of the apparatus. In a word, propylene carbonate is fit for the application of the compact pulsed power sources and propylene carbonate has a good application prospect.