Observations of the Eroded Surfaces and the Motion of Arc Spots at Each Breaking Operation of Silver Electrical Contacts

Junya SEKIKAWA
Tetsuya KITAJIMA
Takayoshi ENDO
Takayoshi KUBONO

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics   Vol.E88-C    No.8    pp.1590-1595
Publication Date: 2005/08/01
Online ISSN: 
DOI: 10.1093/ietele/e88-c.8.1590
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: Special Section PAPER (Special Section on Recent Development of Electro-Mechanical Devices--Selected Papers from International Session on Electro-Mechanical Devices 2004 (IS-EMD2004)--)
Category: Arc Discharge & Related Phenomena
Keyword: 
arc discharge,  electrical contact,  breaking arc,  high-speed camera,  microscope,  

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Summary: 
The motion of arc spots of breaking arc is investigated for Ag electrical contacts in DC 42 V/10 A resistive circuit using a high-speed camera. Also, the eroded contact surfaces are observed with a microscope after each breaking operation. As results, some kinds of different films and eroded regions are distinguished. Diameters of these regions are corresponding to the widths of the cathode and anode spot regions that are obtained by using the high-speed camera. It is found that the films and eroded regions on the electrical contacts are generated at different stages of the breaking arc.