Ablation-Stabilized Arcs in Nylon and Boric Acid Tubes

Using the isothermal ablation-stabilized arc model of Kovitya and Lowke [1], the high-current arcing behavior in tubes made from nylon or boric acid can be predicted from the tube length and radius. In the analyses of such arcs that occur in expulsion fuses and circuit breakers, the physical properties of the vapors formed from the ablated liner materials are required. Values of viscosity, thermal and electrical conductivities, density, specific heat, enthalpy, and sonic velocity for nylon and boric acid plasmas have been calculated for pressures of 1, 10, and 100 atm (1 atm = 101.3 kPa) over the temperature range from 5000-30 000 K.