Tribocharging characteristics of Nylon 12 and FEP by rubbing of carriers for copiers

Publisher Summary This chapter explains Triboelectrification, which is examined for the films of Nylon 12 and Fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) by rubbing with a brush of carriers for copiers under different electrical conditions: the carrier brush is grounded directly or through a capacitor of C in series, and electrically isolated by floating it. Electrification in the atomic scale and its detection and control are successfully made using electrostatic force microscopes. Microplasma is recently observed in the rubbed surfaces of insulators. In spite of these recent modern approaches to the basic study in electrostatics adding to numerous amounts of traditional study, “classic” approaches are also necessary for the practical application of electrostatics or preventing electrostatic hazards because some problems are still left unsolved. For example, the electrical condition of triboelectrification systems does not seem to attract interest of researchers. In tribocharging or contact charging between metal and insulator, charges on the insulator are measured in some cases under the electrical condition that the metal is grounded. In other cases, metal electrode is connected to an electrometer to measure electrification current or voltage. In these cases, a resistor equivalent to an electrometer or appropriate capacitor is connected from the metal electrode to ground. In the cascade method, which is frequently used recently, metallic beads sliding down on a surface of sample materials are electrically isolated. Observed tribocharges strongly depend on the electrical conditions of the brush. Temperature dependence of the tribocharges is also examined and their conductive diffusion is found to be operative for observed singularly large amount of tribocharges.