Surface Potential Versus Electric Field Measurements Used to Characterize the Charging State of Nonwoven Fabrics

Surface potential and electric field measurement techniques are widely used for the investigation of the corona charging of dielectric surfaces in a wide range of industry applications. The aim of this paper is to estimate which of these techniques are the most appropriate for characterizing the charging state of nonwoven fibrous dielectrics and point out the “noise factors” that might distort the results of the measurements. The experiments were performed on samples of nonwoven polypropylene sheets, in contact with or at a well-defined distance from a grounded plane electrode. The effect of the variability of the position of the probes with respect to the samples was also investigated. Several recommendations have been formulated regarding the use of these techniques for monitoring the charging state of nonwoven fabrics in industry applications.