Electrode melting and metal-drop formation in high electric fields

Author

Nevrovskii, V.A. ; Rakhovskii, V.I.

Author_Institution

All-Union Res. Center for Surface & Vacuum Investigations, Moscow, USSR

Volume

25

Issue

2

fYear

1990

fDate

4/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

359

Lastpage

362

Abstract

The growth of the surface perturbations of thin layers of melted metal is evaluated. The layers are supposed to be formed by continuous melting of electrode material under heat flux, the situation being typical for HV (high voltage) devices. Estimates of rates of electrode melting and growth of the melted-layer perturbations induced by the HV field are reported. For copper, melted by heat fluxes q=40, 100, and 400 kW/cm², the dependence α versus t is calculated. The q values chosen for an example are close to the estimates of the heat flux to the anode spot in the prebreakdown stage of initiation of HV vacuum breakdown

Keywords

copper; electric breakdown; electric field effects; electrodes; Cu electrode; HV field induced perturbations; anode spot; continuous melting of electrode material; electrode melting; heat flux; high electric fields; high voltage devices; initiation of HV vacuum breakdown; melted-layer perturbations; metal-drop formation; prebreakdown stage; rates of electrode melting; surface perturbations growth; thin layers of melted metal; vacuum breakdown; Electrodes; Electron beams; Gravity; Kinematics; Resistance heating; Surface tension; Surface waves; Vacuum arcs; Vacuum breakdown; Viscosity;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electrical Insulation, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9367

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/14.52384

Filename

52384