Electrode Erosion in a High Energy Spark Gap*

The erosion rates for hemispherical electrodes, 2.5 em in diameter, made of graphite, copper-graphite, brass, two types of copper-tungsten, and three types of stainless steel have been examined in a spark gap filled with air or nitrogen at one atmosphere. The electrodes were subjected to 50,000 unipolar pulses (25 )ls, 4-25 kA, 5-30 kV, 0.1-0.6 Coul/shot) at repetition rates ranging from 0.5 to 5 pulses per second (pps). Severe surface conditioning occurred, resulting in the formation of several spectacular surface patterns (craters up to 0.6 em in diameter and nipples and dendrites up to 0.2 em in height). Surface damage was limited to approximately 80 \1ffi in depth and was considerably less in nitrogen gas than in air. Anode erosion rates varied from a slight gain for several materials in nitrogen to 5 )1cm3/Coul for graphite in air. Cathode erosion rates of 0.4 )1cm3/Coul for copper-tungsten in nitrogen to 25 )1Cm3/Coul for graphite in air were also measured.