Arc-induced tracking and pyrolysis of organic insulation

Summary form only given. Experimental and theoretical procedures used to study arc-induced tracking and pyrolysis of organic insulation are described. It is found that both energy and power level affect the results. The strong nonlinear arc resistance (voltage vs. current characteristic) leads to a theoretical and experimental result that contradicts conventional wisdom. It is found that power in the system with the insulation arc starts at minimum power with minimum practical circuit impedance, then increases to a local maximum as the impedance increases, and then decreases as the impedance is further increased. It is shown that the experimental damage severity correlates with this variation in power for the materials tested.<>