Wetting Processes on a Contaminated Insulator Surface

This paper presents the theoretical aspects and the experimental results of a study carried out at Ecole Polytechnique de Montrdal on wetting processes on a contaminated insulator surface. Four wetting processes for clean-fog test using the precontamination method are distinguished, namely, collision of water droplets with the insulator surface, condensation, the hygroscopic behavior of the surface deposit, and molecular diffusion. The effect of various parameters such as the equivalent salt deposit density (ESDD), humidity, temperature difference between the cohtaminated surface and the ambient air, and the density of the inert materials are identified for the last three wetting processes.