Proc. V Intern. Conf.

on Plasma Physics and Plasma Technology, Minsk, Belarus, September 18-22, 2006, Vol
1, p. 54-57.

THE TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE OF THE CRITICAL ELECTRIC

FIELD IN MIXTURES OF SF6 WITH C2H6
A.A. Belevtsev1, K.N. Firsov2, S.Yu. Kazantsev2, I.G. Kononov2
1

Institute for High Energy Densities, RAS, Izhorskaya 13/19, 125412 Moscow, Russia
General Physics Institute, RAS, Vavilov st.38, 119991 Moscow, Russia, E-mail:
kazan@kapella.gpi.ru

1. INTRODUCTION
The critical reduced electric field (E/N)cr such that electron production
equilibrates with electron attachment to neutral molecules is a fundamental
characteristic of an electronegative gas. In strongly electronegative gases the
(E/N)cr-values attain several hundred Td (1Td=10-17Vcm) thereby these gases
are widely used in power industry as insulating media. In this connection the
question arises as to how gas temperature affects the critical field because the
operating temperatures typical of modern high-voltage installations are ordinary
well above room temperature. Besides, new physical processes may be expected
to occur in strongly electronegative gases at elevated temperatures.
Of special interest are SF6 and SF6-based mixtures exhibiting both high
dielectric strength and appropriate thermodynamic properties. The present day
information on the temperature dependence of (E/N)cr in these media is very
scarce and conflicting. In fact, there are only two papers /1,2/ dealing with this
problem. In paper /1/, it is stated that the onset potential at constant gas density
and, hence, the magnitude of (E/N)cr do not depend in SF6 on gas temperature
within the range of 300 to 800 K. However the results of /2/ on determining
(E/N)cr in a heated SF6 clearly manifest noticeable increase in the critical
reduced fields in SF6 even at much less temperatures. As regards the SF6-based
mixtures, no relevant information has there been in the literature.
In our recent studies on a self-sustained volume discharge (SSVD) in
mixtures of SF6 with hydrocarbons /3-6/ pre-irradiated by CO2-laser, it was
established that the growth of the burning voltages with increasing the specific
laser energy absorbed Wa is accompanied by an appreciable rise in the gas
temperature. This would appear to allow deducing the temperature dependence
of (E/N)cr in SF6-based mixtures.
The present paper reports on determining the critical reduced electric
fields in mixture of SF6 with C2H6 in the range of gas temperatures T=293-1400
K. The (E/N)cr-values are derived using the SSVD burning voltages in these
mixtures vibrationally excited by a TEA CO2-laser radiation, while the gas
temperatures are estimated by Wa.

Proc. V Intern. Conf. on Plasma Physics and Plasma Technology, Minsk, Belarus, September 18-22, 2006, Vol
1, p. 54-57.

2. MEASURING TECHNIQUE
The experimental set-up was similar to that described in /3,4/. An SSVD
was triggered in pure SF6 mixture SF6:C2H6=5:1 after their being irradiated by a
pulse TEA CO2-laser at the P(20) 10.6 m band wavelength. The density of the
laser radiation energy absorbed in the discharge development zone Wa was
capable of being varied from 0.01 to 0.13 J/cm3. The method of measuring Wa is
described in /4,5/ in greater detail.
SSVD occurred in the needle (cathode), 15mm cylinder (anode)
geometry with an interelectrode distance d=43 mm, the needle being directed
perpendicularly to the cylinder axis. In order to obtain SSVD, a capacitor was
discharged across the gap through a nitrogen-filled spark gap. The voltage pulse
was applied to the discharge gap after a delay >3 s relative to the laser pulse
onset, the laser pulse duration las ~3 s.
3. RESULTS
Increasing the SSVD burning voltage Ulas can numerically be estimated
by the quantity =(Ulas-U)/U /3,5/ where U is the discharge voltage in the
absence of laser illumination, both the voltages being taken at the amplitude
magnitudes of the associated discharge currents. In the present work, the
dependences (Wa) have been obtained by analogy with /3,5/. Given those, the
temperature dependence of (E/N)cr can then be found in the following way.
The mixture heating occurs due to the vibrational relaxation of SF6
molecules, excited by a CO2-laser radiation, through the vibration-translation
(V-T) energy exchange process. At sufficiently high Wa-values there takes place
explosive-like temperature growth resulting in establishing the thermal
equilibrium between the vibrational and translational degrees of freedom in a
lapse of a characteristic time /6/
1

exp

2C (T )T N 2
= V 0 0 VT las .
( 1)Wlas

(1)

Here CV(T0) is the specific heat capacity at constant volume per one particle, N,
a total number particle density. VT is the characteristic V-T energy exchange
time. T0300 K, 5. If exp<las, the laser pulse energy is absorbed completely
by molecules of SF6 thereby the gas temperature T is determined solely by the
quantity Wa. The corresponding relation is as follows:
Wa T
= CV (T )dT ,
N T0

V (T ) = i CVi (T ) .

(2)

Proc. V Intern. Conf. on Plasma Physics and Plasma Technology, Minsk, Belarus, September 18-22, 2006, Vol
1, p. 54-57.

Here i and CVi are the relative number densities and specific heat capacities at
constant volume of the mixture components. Since a noticeable gas heating
begins at time instants approaching exp, the equilibrium quantities CVi may be
taken in relation (2).
The delay times were chosen such that the inequality exp<las held in our
experiments. Then using the dependences (Wa) obtained, relation (2) and data
on CVi from /7/, we have obtained the Ulas-values as a function of T (Fig.1).
Given these data, the relevant dependences of (E/N)cr on T can be derived. The
results are represented in Fig.2. Account was taken of the fact that exists there
some voltage Uc across the gap even though Pd approaches zero. The
corresponding quantities for each the gas considered were determined in special
experiments on the dependence of U on Pd in the present geometry in the
absence of irradiation. The influence of T on Uc was ignored. It is seen that
both in pure SF6 and mixtures of SF6 with C2H6 the reduced critical field
increases with growing gas temperature.
4. SUMMARY
The temperature dependences of the burning voltages and the reduced
critical fields on the gas temperature in pure SF6 and mixtures of SF6 with C2H6
are obtained. Both these quantities increase on gas heating. Based on our
previous studies of /3-6/, the growth of (E/N)cr with T can be explained by the
enhanced electron losses due to electron attachment to the thermally
vibrationally excited molecules of SF6. The results obtained on (E/N)cr in pure
SF6 are in qualitative agreement with those of /2/.
This work was partly supported by the Russian Basic Research Foundation
(Grants No.05-08-33704, No.06-08-00568, No.04-02-16452) and Russian
Science Support Foundation.
REFERENCES
1. I.M. Bortnik. Physical Properties and Electric Strength of Sulfur
Hexafluoride, Moscow, Energoatomizdat, 1988.
2. P.G. Datskos, L.G. Christophorou, J.G. Carter. J.Chem.Phys., 99 (1993)
8607-8616.
3. A.A. Belevtsev, K.N. Firsov, S.Yu.Kazantsev, I.G. Kononov. J.Phys.D:
Appl. Phys., 37 (2004) 1759-1764.
4. A.A Belevtsev, K.N. Firsov, S.Yu. Kazantsev, I.G. Kononov. Proc. IV
Intern. Conf. on Plasma Physics and Plasma Technology, 2003, September 1519, Minsk, Belarus I 27-30.

Proc. V Intern. Conf. on Plasma Physics and Plasma Technology, Minsk, Belarus, September 18-22, 2006, Vol
1, p. 54-57.

5. A.A. Belevtsev, K.N. Firsov, S.Yu. Kazantsev, I.G. Kononov. Appl.Phys.B,

82 (2006) 455-461.
6. A.A. Belevtsev, S.Yu. Kazantsev, I.G. Kononov, K.N. Firsov. Investigated
in Russia, http//zhurnal.ape.retarn.ru/articles/2006/014.pdf.
7. A.P. Babichev, N.A. Babushkina, A.M. Bratkovskii. Reference Data on
Physical Quantities, Moscow, Energoizdat, 1991.
Ulas, kV
22
20
18

16
14

3 Torr C2H6+15.2 Torr SF6

6.1 Torr C2H6+30.4 Torr SF6
9.1 Torr SF6
15.2 Torr SF6

12
10
8
6
4
200

400

600

800

T, K

1000

1200

1400

1600

Fig.1. The temperature dependences of the burning voltage.

(E/N)cr, Td
480
460
440
420
400
380
- 6.1 Torr C2H6+30.4 Torr SF6
- 15.2 Torr SF6

360

- 9.12 Torr SF6

- 3 Torr C2H6+15.2 Torr SF6

340
200

400

600

800

T, K

1000

1200

1400

1600

Fig.2. The temperature dependences of the critical reduced electric field.