Study of decomposition of sulphur hexafluoride by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

When electrical discharges occur in sulphur hexafluoride gas (SF6) lower fluorides are produced within the discharge, and they in turn react readily with impurities, insulators and the electrodes. The final stable compounds formed include sulphur oxyfluorides and sulphur oxides. The aim of the present work was to optimize an analytical method for determining the decomposition products, and finding the dependence of the reaction route followed on the reaction conditions (input energy, contaminants present in the system). By performing model experiments and using various GC/MS techniques, several decomposition products were identified and correlations found between the abundances of the individual components and the decomposition conditions © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.