Abstract
An electric discharge in a flow of ionized gas is widely used in many physics and engineering problems. Among them are problems associated with current flow in various magnetohydrodynamic devices (generators, accelerators), arc shunting in a plasmatron, physical experiments in shock tubes, etc. It is known that with cold electrodes providing the contact between the plasma and the external circuit and relatively high pressures, two modes of current flow occur: at low current, the discharge is of a distributed nature; as the applied voltage increases, the discharge abruptly shifts into a discharge with a clearly developed cathode spot at some critical current density (we call this form of discharge an arc discharge). Existing experimental data [1–20] refers to varying experimental conditions. Furthermore, the critical voltage (or current) at which the transition of the discharge from a distributed discharge to an arc discharge occurs varies within very broad limits. From an analysis of the experimental data, a condition is formulated which the discharge parameters satisfy at the time of transition from a distributed discharge to an arc discharge.
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Additional information
Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, No. 3, pp. 16–23, May–June, 1973.
The author thanks Yu. A. Nikuev for invaluable help in the analysis of experimental data.
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Lyubimov, G.A. Breakdown of the near-electrode layer in a flow of ionized gas. J Appl Mech Tech Phys 14, 307–312 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00850940
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00850940