Detection of gas decomposition products is widely used for condition diagnosis of SF6-insulated equipment because of its an- ti-electromagnetic-interference ability and high sensitivity. Previous investigations show that the volume of gas chamber influences the types and concentrations of SF6 decomposition products. Therefore using a newly developed dual gas chromatography (GC) detection sys- tem we investigated the discharge and decomposition of SF6 in a discharge chamber with its volume close to that of the real chambers in GIS. Tests in the chamber were performed with different applied voltage, different electrode arrangements, and different defect types. For discharge between needle-to-plane electrodes, the typical gas decomposition products are SO2F2, SO2 and S2OF10. A near linear growth with the increase of voltage duration is found in the concentration of SO2F2, whereas the growth rates of SO2 and S2OF10 concentration decrease with time. Concentrations of SO2F2, SO2 and S2OF10 at the same voltage duration decrease with the decrease of the voltage amplitude and the increase of the needle-to-plane distance. Change of the gas chamber volume affects the generation rates of SO2F2 and SO2, however not S2OF10. For insulator surface defects, the typical gas decomposition products are CF4, CS2 and SO2. Among which, the concentrations of CF4 and SO2 increase with the voltage duration almost linearly. Moreover, a new parameter that represents the degree of SF6 degradation, the SF6 deterioration ratio, is proposed. In the needle-to-plane case, SF6 deterioration ratio is positively correlated to the fitting value of an averaged discharge capacity. However, the maximum value of SF6 deterioration ratio varies with the defect type.
