552 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. PS-15, NO.

5, OCTOBER 1987

Evolution of Copper Vapor from the Cathode of a

Diffuse Vacuum Arc

G. LINS

Abstract-The metal-vapor evolution from the cathode of a diffuse

vacuum arc is described by a model that starts from the expression for
the collisionless expansion into vacuum of atoms originating from an
instantaneous point source. The velocity distribution is assumed to be
Maxwellian at the moment the atoms are released from the source. By
convolution with the vapor generation rate, which is given by an
effective erosion rate and the waveform of the arc current, this expres-
sion is generalized to yield the atomic density at an arbitrary distance
from a point source which emits atoms for a finite period. The result
is integrated over the cathode surface which is treated as an extended
homogeneous source of vapor.
The copper-vapor density was calculated for a vacuum arc driven
by a sinusoidal 50-Hz current half-cycle of 500 A rms, for the center
of the contact gap. With a vapor temperature of 2000 K and an effective n 16
copper-vapor erosion rate of 3 ttg/C, the model well describes the mea-
sured decay of the copper-vapor density from about 5 x 1017 m-3 at
300 us before current-zero to 5 x 1014 m-3 at 400 ps after current-
zero.
Comparison with calculations based on the assumption that metal
vapor is generated predominantly by molten droplets evaporating in
flight indicates that before current-zero the contribution of the drop-
lets to the vapor density is negligibly small, while after current-zero
both vapor generation mechanisms produce vapor at the same order
of magnitude.

I. INTRODUCTION 14. I{I

IN A recent paper [1] we presented neutral copper-vapor
concentration measurements near current-zero of vac-
uum arcs driven by a sinusoidal current half-cycle of 500
A rms. The arcs were drawn between chromium-copper
contacts, 60 mm in diameter, which at current-zero had a
distance of 14 mm. The measurements were done in the
center of the gap, i.e., 7 mm above the cathode, which
was the fixed contact. The technique employed was sat-
urated laser-induced fluorescence with local resolution
better than 1 mm3.
The results are reproduced in Fig. 1, together with a
curve indicating the development in time of the copper-
vapor density as predicted by the model of Rich and Far-
rall [2], which was appropriately modified with respect to
the current waveform. In calculating the vapor density ac-
cording to [2] we used a vapor temperature of T = 2000
K and a copper-vapor erosion rate of 1.4 AIg/C to fit the
experimental data.
As observed earlier by other authors [3], the density
decay after current-zero is considerably slower than one
would expect from the model calculations according to
Manuscript received June 18, 1986; revised February 16, 1987.
The author is with Forschungslaboratorien der Siemens AG, D
Erlangen, West Germany.
IEEE Log Number 8716625.
10
-200 -100 0 100 200 300 400
Fig. 1. Copper-vapor density measured at the center of the gap; i.e., 7
mm above the center of the cathode at a current of 500 A rms. The curve
shows the development of neutral density calculated according to Rich
and Farrall for T = 2000 K and an effective copper-vapor generation rate
which was assumed to be 1.4 ag/C in order to fit the experimental data.
The time scale is such that t = 0 at current-zero. Error bars indicate the
highest and the lowest density measured at the respective time.
[2]. In an attempt to describe the temporal development
of the metal-vapor density, and in particular its decay after
current-zero, we have developed a model that takes into
account the finite duration of the current pulse and treats
the cathode as an extended homogeneous source of vapor.
II. EVAPORATION FROM THE CATHODE
A. Evaporation Model
We first consider the collisionless expansion of a num-
ber of atoms AN from an instantaneous point source lo-
cated at the origin of a spherical coordinate system. The
8520
atoms are assumed to have a Maxwellian velocity distri-
bution characterized by a temperature T. If the expansion

0093-3813/87/1000-0552$01 .00 1987 IEEE

LINS: EVOLUTION OF COPPER VAPOR 553

starts at time t = 0, this will result in an atomic density

n(r, t) at a distance r from the origin which, according
to [4], is given by
n(r, t) = AN * f(r, t) (1) f(r,t--) y(t) di
with

f (r, t) =(2rT) i

e -m r2) At t

Pt2kT t2 (2)
Fig. 2. Atoms emitted in the time interval di contribute to the total vapor
concentration an amount of dn = f (r, t - r) 7y(T) dI.
where m is the atomic mass and k is Boltzmann's con-
stant.
Next we allow for a point source of finite duration At. z
The evaporation is described by an atomic generation rate
z0
'y(r) = dN
dr (3)
which states how many atoms per second are evaporated.
If we restrict the validity of the model to diffuse arcs, y
can be related to the arc current I(T) by

Y(r) = a -GI(r)
m
(4) 0

where G is the erosion rate and ai gives the fraction of Fig. 3. Cylindrical coordinate system for calculation of the metal-vapor
eroded material which appears as neutral vapor. density at a point po, z0 resulting from vapor emission from a surface.
Metal atoms which are emitted in the time interval be-
tween r and r + dr (Fig. 2) contribute to the vapor con- In (9) 6 has been introduced since the surface ele-
cos
centration at time t and distance r an amount of ment seen from the observation point po, zo is given by
cos a dA. The angle 6 is related to the distance d of dA to
dn(r, t) = f(r, t - r) y(r) dr. (5) the observation point by
The total concentration is obtained on integrating:
cos 6 =-
d (10)
n(r, t) =
tro
f(r, t - r) yy(r) dr. (6) with
The integration has to be carried out from arc ignition To
d2 = 0 + 2 poD cos sp' + p2 + (11) z2+
to the observation time t, if t is less than the arc duration, The primed quantities denote the coordinates of dA on the
or to time At, if t 2 At. So the upper limit is given by cathode surface.
Since the experimental data refer to sinusoidal half-
rl = min (t, At). (7) cycles, we represent the current by
In this model the sources of vapor are the cathode spots
and their molten tracks [5]. The rapid and random motion I(r) = Io sin wr, if 0 c r c -
of the cathode spots takes them to virtually all regions of
the cathode surface during an arcing cycle. So it may be I(T) = 0, otherwise (12)
justified to treat the cathode as a homogeneously emitting where IO is the peak current and X the angular frequency.
vapor source by introducing a vapor generation rate per Combining (2), (8)-(10), and (12) finally yields
unit area:
z(G t) Io m 3/2
S(r(,r
A )
aGI(T)
=
(8)
mA 2.2ir rR6R 1Tr sin cor
A being the cathode area.
Then, in cylindrical coordinates p, (p, z (Fig. 3), the 0 0 o(t - r)
vapor concentration at a point po, zo reads
exp (- d2 - dr p dp'fdo'.
(2kT(t r)(
) d
n(po, zO, t) = A f(d, t -) S(r) cos 6 dr dA. (13)
(9) R, is the cathode radius.
554 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. PS-15, NO. 5, OCTOBER 1987

The gap length does not enter (13). Physically, this

means that atoms impinging on the anode are assumed to
be lost there. The same assumption is made for the walls
of the vacuum chamber.
B. Comparison with Experiment
Equation (13) was integrated numerically for the pa-
rameters of our experiment, i.e., po = 0, zo = 7 mm, Io
= 700 A, and Rc = 30 mm. Since the contacts were
opened 1 ms after the beginning of a 50-Hz half-cycle,
we let r0 = 1 ms and At = 10 ms. The temperature was X 16
varied from 1800 to 2500 K. The best fit to the experi- E 10
mental data was found for T = 2000 K and aG = 3 .tg/C. c
If we adopt the erosion rate G = 36 jug/C as given by
Malik et al. [6] a amounts to 8 percent.
The best fit is represented by the upper curve in Fig. 4.
In spite of the crude approximations made-collisionless
expansion, homogeneously emitting cathode, neglect of
the influence of the arc plasma on the neutrals-the vapor
density decay from about 5 x 1017 m-3 at 300 As before
current-zero to 5 x 1014 m-3 at 400 Its after current-zero
is described fairly well. This may be due to the fact that
the measurements were made at a comparatively large dis-
tance from the cathode (zo = 7 mm).
Rondeel [7] estimates the neutral copper-vapor density 200 100 0 100 200 300 400
at a distance r from an individual cathode spot carrying a tUPS
current of 75 A to be Fig. 4. Experimental data as given in Fig. 1. The upper curve represents
a calculation of copper-vapor density caused by evaporation from the
n(r) = 6 x 1015/r2 (14) cathode with a vapor temperature of 2000 K and an effective copper-
vapor erosion rate of 3 Ag/C. The lower curve shows the vapor evolu-
where n results in m-3 if r is inserted in m. If we use rcU tion from molten droplets evaporating in flight, which start with an initial
= 1.73 x 10-10 m for the atomic radius of copper [8] we temperature of 2000 K, diameter 10 Am, and velocity of 300 m/s.
find that the mean free path for collisions of copper neu-
trals among themselves is greater than the contact sepa-
ration (14 mm) at a distance of r > 0.7 mm from an in-
dividual cathode spot. Thus, for sufficiently large C
0
distances from the cathode, collisionless expansion is a
good approximation.
The vapor temperature T = 2000 K yielding the best fit u
CXX
(Fig. 4) lies well in the range of 850-2200 K reported in 0
the literature [9]. It is, however, considerably lower than
the cathode spot temperature of T = 2570 K measured by
Utsumi [10], which supports the view of Eckhardt [5] that N~ 0.1
significant amounts of vapor are produced by the molten EL_
tracks of the cathode spots.
z
The model described permits the calculation of vapor
concentration at any point above the cathode plane. In -.cathode radius
particular, radial density profiles can be calculated and
compared to experimental results. 20 40 60
An example is given in Fig. 5 for the current-zero of a r/ mm
sinusoidal half-cycle of I = 1 kA rms. The other param- Fig. 5. Normalized radial concentration profile as measured at current-zero
eters are the same as with the 500-A experiment. The nor- of a half-cycle with I = 1 kA rms, compared to model calculation.
malized vapor concentration measured coincides with the
calculated density for T = 2000 K within experimental the presence of molten metal droplets evaporating in flight
accuracy.
[3], [11].
III. EVAPORATION FROM DROPLETS A. Model for Evaporation firom Droplets
A possible explanation for the slow decay of the metal- We have done density calculations on the basis of drop-
vapor concentration after current-zero of vacuum arcs is let evaporation in order to compare them to the results for
LINS: EVOLUTION OF COPPER VAPOR 555

evaporation from the cathode and to the experimental data.

Without going into every detail, we will state the princi-
pal assumptions and equations.
To start, we calculate the droplet concentration in the Ro= (O,O,zO)
vacuum chamber the way Zalucki [12] did it, making the
following assumptions:
1) All droplets are emitted near the origin of a spherical
coordinate system located at the center of the cathode as
indicated in Fig. 6.
2) All droplets have the same velocity v and diameter
D. Fig. 6. Spherical coordinate system for the calculation of metal-vapor ev-
3) Droplets are emitted exclusively in a small angular olution due to molten droplets evaporating in flight [12].
range AG = Omax - 0min near the cathode plane (Fig. 7),
as observed by Daalder [13]. The angular distribution of
the emitted droplets is described by

E(0) = aG
AG
for 0
min-< 0 < 0 max
E(0) = 0, otherwise. (15)
,B is the fraction of eroded material ejected in droplet form.
4) Droplets that reach the wall of the vacuum chamber
rapidly cool down and stop emitting vapor. The anode is
so far away from the cathode that it is not hit by droplets
(Fig. 7). vacuum chamber
Then the concentration N of droplets at time r, at a point wall
marked by the radius vector (Fig. 6) Fig. 7. The droplet emission is assumed to occur only in a small angular
range between 0m and Om0x The contact separation is sufficiently large
R = (x, y, z) = (r sin 0 cos sp, r sin 0 sin (p, r cos 0) that droplets do not hit the anode. The radius of the vacuum chamber is
Rcyl.
(16)
is given by [12]
Again, d is the distance between the observation point
N(R, T) = 3E(0)
7rer2 0
sin vD3
-
I( r)
v (17) and the point of vapor emission:

where t is the mass density of the contact material. The d2 = RO -R-v (t - T)2 I

(21)
current I has to be taken at the time r - (r/v), when The term v * (t - r) in (21) accounts for the radial motion
those droplets that at time T have reached the distance r of the droplets.
from the cathode spot were emitted. The vapor concentration at a distance zo above the cen-
The droplet distribution obtained this way is considered ter of the cathode (RO = (0, 0, zO)) is found to be
as a vapor source distributed in space. We define a vapor
generation rate per unit volume by
flD(ZO, /)
3 X/ BGIo
Q(R, r) = I(T) * 7rD2 * N(R, r) 2 (2r) 3/2 ~vDA0k
(18)
0Omax nR*(O) TI p(T) sin (T - (r/v))
where
Omin 0 To T (t -
r(T) = p(T) (mkT) (19)
2) d2
m
* expe d
d-r dr da (22)
is the flux of atoms leaving a surface at temperature T;
p ( T) denotes the vapor pressure.
The vapor concentration nD at an observation point Ro The upper limit R*(0) of the radial integral is a function
resulting from droplet evaporation can now be calculated of a 0 due to the cylindrical shape of the vacuum chamber,
analogously to (8), if S ( r), the vapor generation rate per which has the radius RCY1 (Fig. 7):
unit area, is replaced by Q(R, Tr), and the integration is
carried out over the volume containing droplets: R*(0) = Rcyl/sin 0. (23)
TR In the numerical evaluation of (22), cooling of the drop-
nD(RO, t) =
V f (d, t - r) Q (R, T) dT dV. (20) lets by evaporation and radiation was taken into account,
according to the work of Tuma et al. [11].
556 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. PS-15, NO. 5, OCTOBER 1987
B. Comparison with Experiment and Evaporation from
the Cathode
The copper-vapor density at zo = 7 mm above the cen-
ter of the cathode was computed for I = 500 A rms for
copper droplets of 10-Am diameter with a velocity of 300
m/s. Droplet diameters of 10 /Am were measured by
Daalder [13], while velocities of the order of magnitude
mentioned were observed by Shalev et al. [14]. It was
assumed that the total erosion of 36 ,ug/C was droplet
erosion (f3 = 1 ), and Omin and °max were taken to be 750
and 900, respectively. The radius of the vacuum chamber
was RCYl = 250 mm, corresponding to the experimental
conditions [1] .
The initial droplet temperature was chosen to be 2000
K in agreement with the best fit temperature for the cal-
culations of evaporation from the cathode.
The result is shown by the lower curve in Fig. 4. Before
current-zero, the contribution of droplets to the vapor
concentration is negligibly small as compared to the
amount of vapor produced by the cathode. After current-
zero, the vapor production by droplets reaches the same
order of magnitude as the vapor supply from the cathode,
and the development in time tends to be the same for both
vapor generation mechanisms.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author is indebted to Dr. I. Paulus for many useful
discussions, and to G. Grubmiiller for help with the ex-
periments.
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