Influence of Axial Magnetic Field on the Anode Liquid Swirl Flow in High-Current Vacuum Arcs

The anode melting in high-current vacuum arcs leads to the increase of metal vapor and liquid droplets around current zero and even the interruption failure. In our recent experiments of the cup-shaped axial magnetic field (AMF) contacts, an obvious clockwise swirl flow of the liquid copper was detected on the anode surface. However, if an additional external AMF which is reverse to the AMF generated by the contacts was introduced, the rotation direction of the liquid copper swirl flow on the anode surface could reverse to anticlockwise. These phenomena indicate that AMF has great influence on the performance of anode melting and its swirl flow.