Measurement and simulation of electrical tree growth and partial discharge activity in epoxy resin

Electrical treeing in an epoxy resin under an ac voltage for a point-to-plane gap configuration has been investigated using a phase-resolved partial discharge measurement system and shadow survey and light emission registration techniques. A self-consistent model based on the concepts of energy and electric field has been developed and used for quantitative description the temporal-spatial and electric characteristics of electrical treeing obtained in experiment. The electrical treeing is considered to be a phenomenon of self-organized criticality.