Electrical conduction in polyethylene terephthalate and polyethylene films

Abstract

Electrical conduction is studied in polyethylene terephthalate and to a limited extent in polyethylene over a range of fields up to 1·2×106 V cm−1. In common with previous investigations, it is found that the current decays with time according to an inverse power law, but this can be obviated by a conditioning procedure which then allows steady values of current to be measured over a range of temperature and field. The results suggest that the current has an activation energy which is field dependent, but attempts to fit the results to a Schottky-type law are not very successful.