On the Electrode Damage and Current Densities of Carbon Arcs

Arc damage on carbon electrodes has been examined as a function of the charge passing through each arc in the range from 10-6 to 10-1 coloumb. Two forms of arcing damage were observed: that due to the so-called vapor arc, which has a very high current density (~6 × 107 A/cm2) and low erosion rate, and that due to the so-called thermionic arc with a lower current density (~2 × 103 A/cm2) and higher erosion rate. Unlike damage observed on metallic electrodes raised rims were not formed around the carbon craters. The vapor mode damage is compared with two known models of cathode erosion. Differences between the vapor and thermionic modes and the transition between them are discussed. A whitish-gray deposit observed on the arced electrodes appears to be a form of graphite.     

Erosion Craters and Arc Cathode Spots in Vacuum

The development of erosion craters on clean, smooth cathodes in UHV has been investigated with a time resolution of nanoseconds (current range 10–200 A). Furthermore, crater size erosion rate and velocity of spot displacement have been measured in dependence on current and surface conditions. The relevance of the results for different cathode spot models is discussed in detail. From the measurements the following conclusions are drawn. The craters are caused by the action of the discharge pressure on the molten metal within a spot. The spots move in a random manner in elementary steps of a crater radius with time constants of the order of 10^?8 s. The main reason for the movement is the formation of micropoints at crater boundaries. Droplets and contaminations induce jumps of more than a crater radius. The impact of droplets causes considerable deformations of the cathode surface. Nanosecond pulse breakdowns and quasi-stationary arcs result in values of crater size, spot velocity and erosion rate that are comparable within an order of magnitude. These results support a non-stationary spot model that describes the cathode spot as a sequence of surface explosions.     

X-ray radiography of aluminum cathodes eroded in high-current vacuum arcs

The aim of the study presented in this paper was to characterize quantitatively the erosion of aluminum cathodes in high-current vacuum arcs. The experimental setup comprised two current generators. The first one, capable of generating a current of amplitude up to 350 kA, was used to produce a plasma jet, that is, the object to be investigated. The second generator was used to produce a source of probe radiation for imaging the object under investigation in soft x rays of energy ?ν ≈ 0.5–3 keV. The findings of the study are based on experimental data obtained by electrophysical and radiographic methods. It has been shown that the cathode erosion rate in a high-current vacuum arc is a function of the charge passed through the cathode.     

Investigation of Thermochemical Zirconium Cathodes in Nitrogen

For arcs with zirconium cathodes in nitrogen, experimental results are presented about changes of material and structure of the cathode, temperature fields, current densities, heat flows, electron work function and erosion rate. The cathode heat regime is described theoretically. In the experiments, the arc current was 50–200 A.     

Investigations about triggering of coaxial multichannel pseudosparkswitches

A fundamental problem of pseudospark switches is erosion in the borehole area. One way to reduce erosion is to distribute the current to several discharge channels. Essential for multichannel operation is a reliable ignition of all these channels. The aim of this work was to find out the requirements for a trigger for multichannel pseudospark switches and to develop a suitable trigger device. The investigations were made with a three channel pseudospark switch. The developed trigger is a pulsed hollow cathode discharge with a 3 mA dc-preionization. A trigger voltage of 4 kV results in a current of about 6 A in the hollow cathode of the trigger-section. This hollow cathode discharge causes a trigger current into the hollow cathodes of the pseudospark chambers. The trigger current which is necessary to ignite an equally distributed discharge has to be at least 3 mA into each main switch hollow cathode. A jitter of 2 ns was achieved for the coaxial multichannel pseudospark switch     

大脉冲电流下钨铜电极水和空气中的烧蚀特性

针对水中、空气中脉冲放电条件下金属电极烧蚀速率及烧蚀机理差异,对脉冲大电流作用下水中、空气中钨铜电极的烧蚀特性进行了对比研究。在保证放电电流波形一致性的前提下,通过采用高精度天平测量并获取了水中、空气中钨铜电极的阴、阳极烧蚀速率及总烧蚀速率,并对电极表面进行了二次电子观察和背散射电子观察分析。结果表明,大脉冲电流作用下,水中钨铜电极烧蚀较空气中更为严重,钨铜电极的烧蚀主要是金属蒸发引起的汽相侵蚀。由于水介质较空气具有不可压缩性,水中放电电弧集中,电极表面电弧斑点处电流密度和电流作用时间较空气中更为严重,同时由于水中脉冲放电时发生的高温物理化学反应,是造成水中电极烧蚀要高于空气中的根本原因。     

高密度等离子体融断开关融蚀现象的粒子模拟研究

 利用自行研制的2.5维全电磁柱坐标粒子模拟程序对高密度等离子体融断开关融断区域中的融蚀现象进行了模拟研究,详细地介绍了计算模型的建立以及复杂边界的算法处理。模拟结果表明在融断开关导通电流的最后阶段,由于磁压力、磁场渗透作用和非中性静电融蚀作用,在融断区域的阴极附近会形成一定宽度的真空鞘层。由于等离子体密度的下降以及初始真空鞘层的存在,使得即使只有较小的离子电流,融蚀机制也完全可以导致PEOS最终断开。     

Experimental study of the effect of nitrogen on titanium-arccathode erosion

Experimental data on the dependence of titanium erosion rate on cathode temperature, Ar, and N₂ pressure from vacuum to 1 torr and arc motion are presented. Erosion rate is found to decrease with conditions that promote cathode poisoning/contamination. Higher cathode temperatures result in enhanced nitriding (poisoning), leading to a reduced erosion rate. A critical nitrogen pressure (0.001 torr) exists where a sharp drop in erosion is measured. Steered arcs show lower erosion rate values of 38 and 15 μg/C for argon and nitrogen, when compared to random arc values of 45 and 35 μg/C. Erosion rate studies on TiN-coated cathodes show a low value of around 22 μg/C     

Interaction between plasma and the channel surface in a multichannel hollow cathode

A physical-mathematical model of the erosion of a multichannel hollow cathode operating in the arc-discharge mode with inert gas flow is developed. The processes of evaporation, sputtering, and recycling of the cathode material are considered. The dependence of the erosion rate on the discharge parameters is studied. Estimates for integrated and local erosion of the cathode are obtained. The calculation results satisfactorily agree with the experiment.     

Growth of the spark current at the breakdown of short vacuum gaps at steady voltage

The growth time of the spark current at the time of breakdown in vacuum at the constant voltage and pressure existing during this period was investigated with high time resolution. It was shown that, as in the case of a pulsed breakdown: 1) the growth time t_c of the current increases in proportion to the length d of the gap and the ratio d/t_c is 2.5·10⁶ cm/sec; 2) the transition to a rapid rate of current growth (di/dt > 10⁸ A/sec) takes place in 1–3 nsec; 3) during the period of current growth, x-ray radiation appears and a transfer of anode material to the cathode is observed. These results serve as evidence that the origin of current growth is connected with the appearance of efficient electron sources on the cathode. These, as in the case of pulsed breakdowns, are evidently cathode flares, the formation of which has an explosive character and can be identified with the act of breakdown initiation. In essence this event does not change with the rate at which voltage is supplied across the gap and consists of the explosive disintegration of emitting microspikes on the cathode. The appearance of cathode flares indicates the start of an irreversible breakdown of vacuum insulation. The emergence of a burst of x-rays and the erosion of the anode are explained by the action on the anode of a powerful stream of electrons that are emitted from the cathode flares, providing the spark current.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii Fizika, No. 9, pp. 93–97, September, 1971.The authors thank G. A. Mesyats for his constant attention to the work.     

Application of vacuum arc cathode spot model to graphite cathode

A model of near-electrode processes is applied here to describe the behavior of cathode spots on graphite cathode in vacuum arc. The physical model is based on a kinetic treatment of cathode evaporation, electron emission from the cathode, and plasma production. The model consists of physical assumptions and a system of equations that are formulated in the paper. Spot parameters, such as cathode erosion rate, cathode potential drop, cathode surface temperature, current density, electric field, and plasma density, temperature, and velocity in the near-electrode region are calculated numerically. The calculation includes the dependence of spot parameters on spot current and spot lifetime. The variation of spot parameters as a function of spot lifetime are very strong at lifetimes shorter than 10 μs. The calculations indicate that Joule heating in the cathode body is significant, and may exceed cathode heating by the ion heat flux. Calculated spot parameters are compared with the corresponding experimental data for relatively low arc currents (<100 A) and their agreement is discussed     

Erosion of Thin Foils by Sputtering in Hollow Cathodes

A thin copper foil placed diagonally in a cylindrical copper hollow cathode undergoes fast erosion caused by cathode sputtering. Changes in the foil shape are related to current distribution along the hollow cathode axis. The experimental results aid in understanding the increase in spectral lines intensities emitted from conical bottom hollow cathode lamps.     

Evolution of Copper Vapor from the Cathode of a Diffuse Vacuum Arc

The metal-vapor evolution from the cathode of a diffuse vacuum arc is described by a model that starts from the expression for the collisionless expansion into vacuum of atoms originating from an instantaneous point source. The velocity distribution is assumed to be Maxwellian at the moment the atoms are released from the source. By convolution with the vapor generation rate, which is given by an effective erosion rate and the waveform of the arc current, this expression is generalized to yield the atomic density at an arbitrary distance from a point source which emits atoms for a finite period. The result is integrated over the cathode surface which is treated as an extended homogeneous source of vapor. The copper-vapor density was calculated for a vacuum arc driven by a sinusoidal 50-Hz current half-cycle of 500 A rms, for the center of the contact gap. With a vapor temperature of 2000 K and an effective copper-vapor erosion rate of 3 ?/C, the model well describes the measured decay of the copper-vapor density from about 5 × 1017 m-3 at 300 ?s before current-zero to 5 × 1014 m-3 at 400 ?s after current-zero. Comparison with calculations based on the assumption that metal vapor is generated predominantly by molten droplets evaporating in flight indicates that before current-zero the contribution of the droplets to the vapor density is negligibly small, while after current-zero both vapor generation mechanisms produce vapor at the same order of magnitude.     

Influence of current ripple on the tungsten cathode erosion

The erosion of a thermionic tungsten cathode is studied. Arc burning conditions under which gas–vapor erosion causes cathode mass losses are determined. It is shown that erosion does not depend on the current ripple amplitude and is roughly equal to 2 ng/C. In experiments, the current ripple amplitude ranges from ±1% to ±50%.     

Effect of the expanding explosive-emission centers plasma on theimpedance of a high-current diode

Formulas for the space-charge-limited electron current in a planar diode with a small hemispherical or hemi-cylindrical plasma emitter have been obtained theoretically and by a numerical simulation. For a periodic cathode structure of hemispherical emitters, an approximate expression for current is derived. Based on these results, the increase in current with time in high current explosive-emission diodes is explained. A condition has been found under which the expanding cathode plasma has no effect on the diode impedance. This is related to the electric field pressure on the cathode. A configuration of the cathode surface has been proposed which provides realization of this condition     

低密度等离子体融断开关的粒子模拟研究

 采用2.5维柱坐标粒子模拟程序研究了低密度等离子体融断开关（PEOS）工作过程中的物理现象,介绍了计算模型的建立和复杂边界的算法处理。模拟结果表明,在PEOS导通电流的过程中,电流通道最初在等离子体的发生器端形成,并且随着导通时间的增大而向负载端漂移。离子的空间分布并没有明显的变化,当PEOS发生断路时,等离子体离子的密度会迅速降低,并最终导致PEOS阴极附近的等离子体的密度已接近为零,此时,阴极电子完全受磁场箍缩作用而不能到达阳极,PEOS完全断开。     

Cathode erosion rate in high-pressure arcs: influence of swirling gas flow

Cathode erosion in a 400-A arc burning in oxygen at 4-atm pressure was measured at different gas dynamic conditions near the cathode. The flow pattern near the cathode was changed by varying the swirl of the gas entering the discharge chamber. Experiments showed that the erosion rate depends on the swirl in a very strong way. Model calculations of velocity distribution showed that the gas velocity near the cathode increases as the swirl intensifies. According to our model, it leads to an increase of the net evaporation rate (evaporation rate minus rate of previously evaporated particles returning back to the cathode).     

Approximation of the erosion zone profile in planar magnetrons with a disk cathode

We have proposed a universal approximation of the normalized erosion zone profile of planar magnetrons with a disk cathode by a composite function that includes the probability density function for the minimal distribution of extremal values for the region from the center of the disk cathode to the maximum of the erosion zone and the survival Weibull distribution function (from the maximum to the outer boundary of the sputtering zone). The accuracy of the approximation has been verified for six magnetrons differing in the cathode size or in the design of the magnetic systems. In all cases, good agreement has been observed between the approximation and experimentally measured values. The results reported here can be used to analyze processes that occur on the cathode during sputtering and to refine the calculations of coating profiles.     

Effect of the pulse repetition rate on the composition and ioncharge-state distribution of pulsed vacuum arcs

The plasma composition and ion charge-state distributions of pulsed vacuum arcs have been investigated for carbon, aluminum, silver, platinum, and tantalum cathodes using a time-of-flight (TOF) charge-to-mass spectrometer. With the exception of carbon, it was found that all results depend on the arc pulse repetition rate, a fact which, up to now, has not been reported in the literature. It is shown that adsorption of gas on the cathode between are pulses leads to contamination of the metal plasma and to a reduction of metal ion charge states. These usually undesired effects can be avoided by operating at high arc pulse repetition rates of order 10 Hz or more. The results can be interpreted in terms of cathode spot type 1 (on contaminated cathode surfaces) and type 2 (on clean surfaces) which are well known from their different brightness and erosion behaviour. The transition between these modes was found to be gradual     

Requirements for simultaneous ignition of all channels in ahigh-current radial multichannel pseudospark switch

In order to reduce erosion of electrodes and consequently achieve a long lifetime for high-power switches, a low-pressure switch, namely the pseudospark switch (PSS), is investigated as an alternative to the conventional high-power switches. The erosion can be reduced further along with an enhancement of the current and the rate of current rise, if more channels are introduced for the passage of current. An intense electron beam is known to be emitted by the hollow cathode during the starting phase in a pseudospark discharge. It has been reported that in a multichannel setup each installed channel can ignite only if it gets ionized by its respective beam. The results presented in this paper show how this multichannel operation can be accomplished. These results are based on a statistical study of a radial multichannel pseudospark switch and an observation of the discharge course by means of high-speed photography and show that a glow discharge trigger, with a high glow current (⩾1.2 mA) and slowly rising trigger pulses (⩾150 ns), allows a simultaneous ignition of up to 12 channels