Electrical treeing in hexagonal ice crystals under applied impulse voltage

Using two hexagonal samples of ice, polycrystalline and single-crystalline, the electrical treeing has been investigated under an applied impulse voltage. The crystallinity and temperature of the ice play an important role in the events of the treeing. In the single-crystalline ice, the tree in the samples at -25 °C always progressed along the basal plane of the ice crystal, but at -196 °C, it progressed along the c-axis. These distinctive patterns of the tree progression were attributed to the crystal axis dependence on the electrical conductivity and the relative permittivity at each temperature. The current accompanying the trees were detected by means of an electro-optic coupling with light emitting diodes and photodiodes. After the large current pulses which occur just after voltage application, small intermittent current pulses were visible in the wave tail of the applied voltage. These intermittent pulses appear to generate by the movement of accumulated charges after the formation of tree channels. The electrical breakdown strength of ice at -25 C was large for the electric field parallel to the c-axis of the single-crystalline ice.