Electrical conduction in organic liquids

Careful measurements of the conduction currents in hexane under controlled conditions over a wide range of d.c. stress values are reported. The effects of electrode material and electrode spacing were also investigated. The results show that the relations between current and stress give a curve of a characteristic shape which may be generally divided into three distinct regions: ohmic, saturation and emission. The onset stress for the emission region is shown to be greatly dependent upon the electrode surface material and its state. Random current pulses as a source of instability and the so-called `conditioning process' are closely investigated. The possible correlation of such instabilities with the adsorption of gases and vapours on the electrode surfaces is discussed.