The Electrostatic Behavior of Insulating Film Moving over Grounded Metal Rollers

An experimental technique is described for identifying the onset of electrostatic charge retention on an insulating web moving over a grounded roller. The charging behavior of the web has been compared to theoretical predictions and a good degree of correlation was found. Sparking between the web and roller was also investigated both for single and multiple contacts. There appeared to be a relationship between roller diameter and the boundary for spark initiation between the roller and web surface.