Experimental investigation on the effect of vacuum arc on removing oxide layer on metal-tube surface in a transverse magnetic field

It has been investigated that removing oxide layer on metal surface by vacuum arc can be a “green” substitute for traditional acid-washing technique and mechanical cleaning technique widely used in metallurgical industry, which is harmful to environment. In this paper, the effect of vacuum arc on removing oxide layer on the surface of carbon-steel tube, which was used as the cathode, was investigated experimentally. External coils were used to generate transverse magnetic field driving cathode spots to rotate on tube surface. Experiments were conducted in a detachable vacuum chamber in different transverse magnetic field flux densities. Arc images were taken by a high-speed digital camera with an exposure time of 2 microseconds. The influence of magnetic flux density on the motion of cathode spots and descaling effect was analyzed.