Breakdown studies of SF/sub 6//argon gas mixtures

Mixtures of argon and SF/sub 6/ were investigated to determine the improvement in the dielectric strength compared to that of pure argon. It was found that a considerable increase in the breakdown voltage was obtained with the introduction of 1% or more of SF/sub 6/. The effective ionization coefficients of the SF/sub 6//argon gas mixtures were calculated from the data by a linear approximation method. Using the ionization coefficient values for pure SF/sub 6/ and for pure argon obtained from published literature, the breakdown voltages for these gas mixtures were then calculated and found to show good agreement with the experimentally derived values.>