Construction of microgrooves on the surface of alumina ceramic insulator to enhance its flashover strength

The fabrication method of grooves on the surface of alumina and their influence on the surface flashover characteristics of the alumina insulator were studied in this paper. To prepare grooves with a regular surface structure, the UV laser was applied to carve grooves on the surface of alumina ceramic, and dilute hydrochloric acid was used to corrode and remove the residual materials produced in the laser carving process. By adjusting the laser parameters, periodic grooves were prepared on the surface of a cylindrical alumina insulator with a groove depth of 60 µm and a groove width of approximately 50 µm on the laser spinning carving platform. Then, alumina insulators with different periods were prepared, and their vacuum surface flashover voltages were tested on a short pulsed high-voltage test platform. The test results indicated that the flashover voltages of the alumina insulators with laser carved periodic grooves were increased over 200%, and the improvement did not change much with the groove periods. A further study of the groove parameters showed that several grooves fabricated on the cathode end of the insulators were able to improve the flashover voltage of the alumina insulator to the voltage-withstand level of the fully grooved insulators.