Fundamentals of Electrostatic Spinning Part IV:-

Abstract

A short review is presented of the basic mechanism of gaseous ionization under the effect of an electric field with special reference to air. An analysis of Paschen's law indicates that it cannot be applied to predict the breakdown voltage of air in an electrostatic spinning process, since it is valid only for rather short distances of 0.1- 1.0 cm. On the other hand, Meek's breakdown criterion indicates that, in air and at 20 cm electrode separation, the breakdown field is about 2.5 × 106 volts/meter. This review analysis shows that the space-charge field should be taken into account up to the value of one tenth of the externally applied field. The effect of the relative humidity on the ionization of air is analyzed.