2025/09/10 by Sergey Gortschakow, G Gött, Ralf Methling +4 · 1 voice
Engineering · Materials Science · #Electronic Packaging and Soldering Technologies #Electrical Contact Performance and Analysis #Copper Interconnects and Reliability
paper · pdf · doi:10.14311/ppt.2025.2.117
openalex publication_date 2025/09/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Properties of switching vacuum arcs are affected by melting and evaporation of the electrodes.The surface temperature dynamics during high-current operation was studied for the case of cylindrical contacts made of materials conventionally used for switching applications, namely CuCr40 and CuCr50. The measurements of the arc current and voltage have been accompanied by electrode temperature determination using a combination of near infrared radiation (NIR) spectroscopy and high-speed camera imaging enhanced by narrow-band filter. Special attention was put on the cooling dynamics of cathode and anode after current interruption. Lower thermal conductivity of CuCr alloy with higher Cr content leads to longer temperature decay. Faster cooling of the cathode surface comparing to the anode due to better current density distribution and moving of attachment points were found.