The 1984 H. Tropper Memorial Lecture Electronic Ppocesses in Dielectric Liquids Under Incipient Breakdown Stress

The fundamental processes of charge carrier generation and motion in pure hydrocarbon liquids under high electrical stress are reviewed in the light of present knowledge of amorphous phase electronics and of the electrochemistry of electrode-dielectric interfaces. existence of quasi-free electron and equally mobile positive hole states in a liquid such as nhexane makes it possible to develop plausible models for the extremely fast cathode and anode-initiated incipient breakdown discharge processes which have been observed.