Surface potential decay of gamma-irradiated low-density polyethylene

Abstract

Abstract-In the present paper the surface potential decay after dc corona charging of gamma-irradiated low-density polyethylene (LDPE) has been studied. The irradiation was carried out in air, nitrogen gas and vacuum to investigate the effect of irradiation environment on the surface potential of LDPE. Samples with different absorbed doses were obtained by exposing samples to 60 Co for various times at room temperature. It has been found that there is a significant change in the surface potential decay characteristics after different irradiation dose and the surface potential decay pattern depends also on irradiation environment. The possible surface potential decay mechanisms responsible for the above were discussed. The results are useful in the context of long term performance of electrets.

Inscribing wettability gradients onto polymer substrates with different stiffness using corona discharge in point-to-plane geometry

“…During the discharge the ion flux is highest at the center of the corona-treated spot (Warburg's law). Owing to the insulating character of polymer materials the ions are trapped at the surface for a certain time [16,[37][38][39][40][41][42][43], which leads to charge accumulation in the center of the corona-treated spot. Because of charge accumulation the electric-field distribution gets modified, yielding a current density distribution that is no longer described by Warburg's law.…”