Electrohydrodynamic motion and breakdown in liquids

Abstract

The transition between the fast and the slow components in the distribution of the time lags to breakdown has been investigated for several liquids whose coefficients of dynamic viscosity and permittivity differ by large amounts. Results of breakdown measurements for different hydrocarbon and chloro-hydrocarbon liquids are presented. The results are in agreement with the hypothesis that the transition occurs at the instant when the electrically stressed liquid layer becomes hydrodynamically unstable.<>