Studies in electrets—Part I

The steady current characteristics of carnauba wax are studied with the view to understanding the mechanism of formation and properties of electrets. Careful investigations show that the ‘hysteresis effect’ is totally absent in steady currents observed while cooling and heating carbaube wax under the influence of electric field. The electric field was varied from a few volts per cm. to 10 kV per cm. The rate of change of current with temperature is very small below 75°C. for all voltages and increases very rapidly for higher temperatures upto the melting points. Beyond the melting point the rate again falls.