Abstract
Flashover characteristics of nitrogen and nitrogen-oxygen mixture gases in a positive rod to plane electrode have been investigated over a temperature range of 20--160°C under the condition of constant gas density.
In nitrogen, the breakdown voltage of the gap with a sharp tip rod increases with reducing gas temperatures and its value at -160°C is 1.7 times of that at room temperature. When a tip radius of electrode increases or a few percent of oxygen is added in nitrogen, the increase in the breakdown voltage at low temperature tends to disappear. The temperature dependence of breakdown voltage is sensitively affected by the tip radius of the electrode and an amount of oxygen in nitrogen gas. These phenomena are discussed on the basis of the inception voltage of streamer corona which can subsequently induce the breakdown.
