Investigation of the dynamics of high-current vacuum arc luminosity

Abstract

We investigated the development of high-current vacuum arc on the axial magnetic field contacts. The arc was initiated by opening of the contacts. We considered the processes during half wave of the industrial frequency current in the range of current from 0.1 to 1.2 of breaking capacity of the contact system. Using the high-speed video we investigated the time dependence of the plasma luminosity in the gap between the electrodes and the shape of luminous column. It has been shown, that high-current electrodes material evaporation has a notable effect on processes in the gap between the electrodes, but it doesn't cause contraction.