Estimation of conductivity and permittivity of water trees in PE from space charge distribution measurements

Using an improved pulsed electroacoustic system which is capable of measuring space charge distribution at minimum intervals of 25 /spl mu/s, the charge distribution inside water-treed polyethylene (PE) was examined. From the results, the frequency dependencies of conductivity and permittivity were examined for water trees grown in PE. The conductivity of the water-treed region is found to be >10/sup 10//spl times/ higher than that of non-treed regions, while the permittivity increase is only slight.