A new approach to study the electric strength of insulating materials

Electric strength of insulating materials is determined conventionally with either ac or dc voltages using a two terminal electrode system. The rapid rise method and the step voltage method are generally employed for determining the dielectric strength of materials. However, in the present day context, there is a need for measuring the dielectric strength under different unconventional voltages like combined or composite voltages which comprises of two voltage components instead of one. This paper highlights the need for dielectric testing under combined/composite ac/dc voltages