Experimental study on electrode erosion characteristics of spark gas switch under different current

Self-breakdown experiments were carried out with stainless steel (1Cr18Ni9Ti) electrode under different short current conditions. Electrode erosion and its effect on self breakdown were investigated by measuring various electrode mass loss, electrode surface roughness and breakdown voltage. The results are as follow: when current peak and periods increase, electrode mass loss rate and capacitance charge are linear, also the surface roughness and current peak are linear; when current peak and periods increase, the required breakdown numbers when self breakdown voltage comes to the peak and steady region decrease, also the self breakdown voltage and relative standard deviation in steady phase decrease; the distribution of self break down voltage probability follows Gauss distribution in all five current conditions.