Electrical Degradation and Breakdown in Polymers

Breakdown is fascinating to the scientist and frustrating to the engineer! As well as advancing the scientific and engineering understanding of electrical degradation and breakdown in polymers, this book forms a comprehensive and international review of the state-of-the-art. Topics include: water and electrical treeing; charge transport; 'classical' and filamentary thermal, electromechanical, electronic and partial discharge breakdown models; the stochastic nature of breakdown and statistical characterisation techniques; and engineering considerations for breakdown testing and degradation assessment. The treatment presumes little prior knowledge but develops into an advanced understanding of new concepts such as the fractal-like nature of trees. Although the book is primarily aimed at scientists and engineers practising in the field, a broad introductory section has been included to cater for a wide audience including those new to the subject area. This comprises a description of the nature of the polymers, basic solid-state physics and an introduction to degradation and breakdown.