Peculiarities of interaction of the cathode stream with anode vapors in a vacuum arc

A one-dimensional model of the quasi-stationary vacuum arc plasma zone is considered in terms of a three-liquid hydrodynamics approximation. It is supposed that atoms evaporated from the anode are ionized in a narrow near-anode zone, slow ions are rapidly maxwellized in the result of Coulomb collisions, ion braking length of the cathode stream may be comparable with a gap size, i.e., the cathode stream breaking is important. Outside the narrow near-electrode zones slow anode and rapid cathode ion flows are maintained, the electron thermal conductivity equalizes the electron temperature.