Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. (2013) 61: 24312
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjap/2012120412

The role of barrier surface properties in barrier surface discharge behavior ^*

¹ Department of Electrophysics and High Voltage Technique, National Research University “Moscow Power Engineering Institute”, Krasnokazarmennaya 14, 111250 Moscow, Russia
² Chemical Faculty, Moscow State University, Leninsky Gory 1, building 3, 119899 Moscow, Russia

^a e-mail: mvsokolova@mail.ru

Received: 28 September 2012
Revised: 29 November 2012
Accepted: 5 December 2012
Published online: 18 February 2013

Abstract

Results of experimental investigation of a dielectric barrier surface discharge over barriers with different films deposited on their surface show evident dependence of the microdischarge structure, their intensity and their charge on the surface structure and chemical composition of the barrier surface. Measured profiles of barrier surface structures by means of a laser scanning microscope are used to calculate the electric field distribution in air in the vicinity of the barrier surface. The local electric field near the surface is shown to have strong dependence on the surface profile elements (highness of protrusions, curvature radii of their peaks and the distance between neighbor protrusions). It is shown that the values of local fields are sufficient for ionization processes in air and it is supposed that such additional ionization is one of the main factors to change the discharge behavior.