Electrode melting and metal-drop formation in high electric fields

The growth of the surface perturbations of thin layers of melted metal is evaluated. The layers are supposed to be formed by continuous melting of electrode material under heat flux, the situation being typical for HV (high voltage) devices. Estimates of rates of electrode melting and growth of the melted-layer perturbations induced by the HV field are reported. For copper, melted by heat fluxes q=40, 100, and 400 kW/cm/sup 2/, the dependence alpha versus t is calculated. The q values chosen for an example are close to the estimates of the heat flux to the anode spot in the prebreakdown stage of initiation of HV vacuum breakdown.<
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