Comparison of the characteristics of vacuum arc cathode spots on the tungsten and the molybdenum electrodes

The paper describes investigation of characteristics of vacuum arc cathode spots on tungsten electrodes that depend on magnetic field and the arc current and length: velocity of spot motion, average current per spot and Robson angle. In the experiments, the arcs had lengths h = 2 mm and 6 mm and were subjected to magnetic field inclined to the cathode surface. The cathode surface was filmed during arcing by high-speed photography camera. The results are compared with the ones obtained previously in experiments with molybdenum electrodes.