Experimental study of the modified Paschen’s law: glow discharge of Ethanol (CH3CH2OH), Methanol (CH3OH) and its mixtur

Abstract A low-pressure ethanol and methanol discharge produced by a DC electric field was studied experimentally, analyzing the disruptive voltage between parallel electrodes with a circular geometry as function of pressure and distance according with the Paschen’s law, this states that the breakdown voltage is a function of the product of gas pressure and distance following the relationship: VB = ƒ(pd). Detailed knowledge of the minimum breakdown voltage required to initiate the ethanol-methanol discharge will be useful to providing important information for future experiments and applications. In this experiment, a cylindrical chamber was used to generate a glow discharge of the ethanol (CH3CH2OH), methanol (CH3OH), and 50% mixture, over a pressure range of 0.07-5.00 Torr. Optical emission spectroscopy was performed in the wavelength range of 200-900 nm. The Paschen curves, measured experimentally for ethanol and methanol are presented, taking in account the coefficient obtained using the variation in Paschen’s law as a function of the distance and radius of the electrodes (d/r).