Thermal Recovery of an Arc Track

The threshold recovery electric field in a heavily affected arc track on a solid dielectric is analyzed using a three-layer approach and the experimentally estimated power flow from the arc. The advantage of the method is the possibility of taking into account the thermophysical properties of the solid for three different material phases. The temperature distributions in the body under the arc and in the arc track for the post-arc period are represented. An equation to estimate the threshold electric field is derived and discussed.