Abstract
Breaking arcs are generated between a pair of Cu electrical contacts in a DC 42 V/10.5 A circuit, and the arc voltage, the arc current and the time-resolved arc spectral intensities near contact surfaces are simultaneously measured. The arc temperature is calculated from some spectral intensities emitted from Cu neutral atoms using the Boltzmann plot method. The arc temperatures near the cathode and anode surfaces are measured, and the following experimental results were obtained. (1) Time evolutions of the spectral intensities and the calculated arc temperature have similar characteristics. (2) The arc temperature near the anode surface is higher than that near the cathode surface, and the temperature fluctuation near the anode surface is larger than that near the cathode. (3) Just before arc extinction, the arc temperature near the cathode surface is almost constant for many breaking operations but the arc temperature near the anode surface varies.
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