The Influence of Solid-State Cohesion of Conditioned Metal Electrodes on the Electrical Strength of the Vacuum Gap

The solid-state cohesion of metals maintaining electricalstress across a vacuum gap appears to determine the magnitude of theelectric strength of the vacuum gap. For conditioned electrodes(presumably free of adsorbed and oxide layers) under direct-voltage conditions,higher electric strengths are associated with metals having highmetal-metal bond energies and vice versa.