Investigation of Vacuum Arc Anode Temperatures of Cu-Cr and Pure Cu Contacts
Keywords:
vacuum arc, anode temperature, thermographyAbstract
The present contribution reports on investigations of electrode temperatures for pure Cu electrodes and Cu–Cr electrodes of different diameters exposed to vacuum arcs with sinusoidal currents of 5-15 kA and an axial magnetic field up to 180 mT. It is found that surface temperatures of pure Cu electrodes are significantly lower than for Cu–Cr electrodes of the same diameter. This must be explained by different thermal properties of both materials. Reducing the diameter of Cu–Cr electrodes it is found that surface temperatures increase, but moreover it is shown that the enthalpy stored in the electrode bulk material may effect electrode temperatures on timescales much longer than the current pulse width, particularly if there is no effective heat dissipation after current zero.References
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