Tracking tests for different polymer materials were carried out to investigate the chaotic behavior of surface discharge.The discharge sequences measured during the discharge process were analyzed for finding the evidence of chaos existence.Four kinds of nonlinear analysis methods were adopted:estimating the largest Lyapunov exponent,calculating the fractal dimension with increasing the embedding dimension,drawing the recurrence plots,and plotting the Poincaré maps.It is found that the largest Lyapunov exponent of the discharge is positive,and the plot of fractal dimension,as a function of embedding dimension,will saturate at a value.The recurrence plots show the chaotic frame-work patterns,and the Poincaré maps also have the chaotic characteristics.The results indicate that the chaotic behavior does exist in the discharge currents of the tracking test.
