4th International Conference on

GAS DISCHARGES

7 - 1 0 September 1976

Organised by the Science, Education and Management Division of the Institution of Electrical Engineers

in association with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland Section)

Institute of Physics Institution of Electronic and Radio Engineers Welding Institute

Venue University College of Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea

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Contents

The Institution of Electrical Engineers is not, as a body, respon­sible for the opinions expressed by individual authors or speakers.

Page No. 220 M. H. Aints, A. J. Haljaste, H. J. Korge, K. F. Kudu and M. R. Laan Formation of the HF point-discharge

8 D. R. Airey, P. H. Richards and J. D. Swift Anomalous electrical conductivity enhancement in very high current SF6 arcs

63 D. R. Airey and R. J. Urwin Energy balance of a high current SF6 interrupter arc

272 T. E. Allibone and D. Dring Impulse corona development in a rod/plane gap

264 R. B. Anderson, A. J. Eriksson and H. Kroninger Lightning and tall structures: some preliminary observations

352 D. Andersson The first derivative method—a probe method which seems to have been overlooked

372 E. I. Asinovsky, A. A. Afanasjev and E. P. Pakhomov Experimental investigation of instability of wall-stabilized high pressure arc column in magnetic field

376 E. I. Asinovsky, E. P. Pakhomov and I. M. Yartsev Argon plasma viscosity measurements

354 J. M. Baronnet, J. Rakowitz, P. Fauchais and J. F. Coudert Selective excitation of nitrogen by argon atomic metastable

303 G. J. Bauer and R. Holmes Ion energy distributions in high current vacuum arcs

279 E. M. Bazelyan, M. V. Burmistrov, V. I. Levitov and O. V. Vofkova Electric discharge in long air gaps with slightly non-uniform electric field

268 G. Berger Electrode phenomena during the final jump of long sparks

705 G. Berger and M. Goldman Dielectrics degradation under corona discharges

98 S. Berger Breakdown field gradients in compressed air

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Page No. 206 D. Bhasavanitch, A. B. Parker and N. Tsagas Pre-breakdown current measurements in Xenon at low pressure

358 L. Biborosch, Gh. Popa and M. Sanduloviciu Nonlinear interaction between ionization waves in helium

67 D. F. Binns and F. Mansoor Breakdown in a horizontal gas-filled duct containing a heated busbar

407 D. T. A. Blair, N. M. Macleod and J. S. Orr Radiation in the vacuum ultraviolet from discharges in gas mixtures

188 N. B. Bogdanova and B. G. Pevchev Ionization zone propagation in dc flare discharge

231 N. B. Bogdanova, B. G. Pevchev and S. V. Polevoy Measurement of electrical field strength on the electrode during corona

12 R. Bolton, D. Bhattacharyya and M. G. Drouet Current density and magnetic quantities in a moving arc

86 R. Brambilla and A. Pigini Discharge phenomena in large conductor bundles

407 M. Brück, R. Bruckmü/Ier and W. Weissmann Comparison of various types of vacuum ultraviolet light sources for photo-electron spectroscopy

327 A. Brunet Experimental study of the interior of the cathode of a hollow cathode arc

137 P. Bye, A. J. Davies, J. Dutton and R. T. Waters Transition regime from quasi-uniform to non-uniform field sparkover

235 P. Callegaro and G. Pesavento Corona inception in oxygen-nitrogen mixtures

44 L. C. Campbell, J. F. Perkins and J. L Dal/achy Effect of nozzle pressure ratio on SF6 arc interruption

393 R. J. Campbell and W. Kroontje Detection and measurement of the effect of hydrogen in high pressure sodium discharge lamps

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Page No. 166 I. D. Chalmers and J. Thorn Conditioning effects in pressurized spark gaps

52 A. Chapman, G. R. Jones and D. C. Strachan Current zero electric field measurements in gas blast circuit breaker arcs

366 G. Cicconi and C. Rosatelli Ionization waves excited by microwaves in noble gas positive columns

404 P. F. Clancy, J. L. Clark and R. G. Earl Electrodeless RF discharges in argon-hydrogen gas mixtures

133 R. Coates, J. Dutton and F. M. Harris The electrical breakdown of high-pressure gases at high electric fields

7 77 B. H. Crichton, 0. E. Ibrahim and O. Parish The dependence of breakdown voltage in SF6 mixtures on electrode-surface roughness

735 B. H. Crichton, D. I. Lee and D. J. Tedford Prebreakdown in compressed SF6 and SF6/N2 mixtures in projection perturbed uniform fields

295 S. J. Dale Breakdown in sparkgaps containing an isolated metallic body

242 R. C. Davidson, B. R. Lynch and 0. Parish Corona and breakdown in N2/SF6 and N2 /02 mixtures in static and f lowing gas

775 A. J. Davies, K. E. Donne and C. J. Hill Edge breakdown in electro-negative gases between uniform-field electrodes

747 A. J. Davies, C. J. Evans, P. Townsend and P. M. Woodison The numerical simulation of axially symmetric discharges between plane parallel electrodes

90 K. Dimoff, D. Souilhac, B. Jean and A. Sharah Electrode ablation and the arc phase of the spark discharge

709 B. E. Djakov Space charge dynamics and the reignition of low-current electric arcs near current zero

375 B. E. Djakov and V. Bakardjiev Electric characteristics of a magnetically driven arc on circular electrodes

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Page No. 216 S. El-Debeiky On the formation mechanisms of positive and negative glow coronas

702 V. G. Endean Cathode voltage of the stable cold cathode arc

191 M. Ermel Electron emission currents in compressed SF6 in the coaxial cylindrical field

311 W. G. Essers and G. Je/morini Electrode phenomena in a thermally ionized gas

5 M. T. C. Fang, S. K. Chan and R. D. Wright Theoretical investigation of steady state nozzle arcs

375 J. Freisinger, W. Altenburg and H.W. Loeb Investigation of the beam of the rf-ion thruster RIT 10

113 E. Gockenbach Effect of the electrode surface on the breakdown performance of SF6

277 B. N. Gorin, V. I. Levitov and A. V. Shkilev Distinguishing features of lightning strokes to high construction

274 B. N. Gorin, V. I. Levitov and A. V. Shkilev Some principles of leader discharge of air gaps with a strong non-uniform field

48 D. M. Grant, J. F. Perkins, L C. Campbell, O. E. Ibrahim and O. Parish Comparative interruption studies of gas-blasted arcs in SF6-Na and SF6-He mixtures

257 P. Greenwood Infrared radiation from a laboratory discharge

440 A. H. Guenther and J. R. Bettis Laser-triggered spark gap switches

209 R. Hackam, C. Raja Rao and G. R. Govinda Raju Electrical breakdown of nitrous oxide

79 B. F. Hampton and H. Gregory Effect of discharge energy on switching surge breakdown in SF6

735 M. Hayashi Monte Carlo simulation of electron avalanches

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Page No. 184 S. C. Haydon and A. I. Mcintosh Spatial and temporal studies of pre-breakdown phenomena in gas laser media

386 S. C. Haydon and I. Plumb Some influences of external circuit parameters on the development of rf discharges

37 A. Holi and Z. Tarocihski Influence of different parameters on breakdown voltage of the cathode sheath

260 K.Horii Determination of space charge and potential distributions of long gap discharge by dust figure

283 B. Hutzler and D. Hutzler-Barre Dielectric breakdown of gaseous gaps—analytic expression of " S " curves

20 E. Z. Ibrahim and A. D. Stokes Field gradient measurement in high current ac wall stabilised arcs

227 N. Ikuta and K. Kondo A spectroscopic study of positive and negative coronas in N202 mixture

33 T. Inaba and Y. Kito Voltage gradient-current characteristics of dc stabilized arcs in A r -N 2 gas mixtures

411 P.C. Johnson and J. £. Allen Populations in the 63P levels in an optically pumped mercury plasma at low pressure

291 B. Jones and J. N. Ross Simultaneous measurement of current and light in long sparks

239 I. B. Jordan and R. Saint-Arnaud Electrical corona at ice surface

725 M. M. Kekez and P. Savic Further support for the hypersonic and Volterra models of spark channel development

24 R. E. Kinsinger and H. O. Noeske Relative arc thermal recovery speeds in different gases

1 Y. Kito, I. Miyachi and T. Sakakibara Influence of radiation loss on the stabilized air arc characteristics

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Page No. 299 D. Klapas. R. Hackam and F. A. Benson Power collection for high-speed trains by an electric arc

41 Z. Kolacihski Thermal reignition of a-c arc

83 J. Kopainsky and E. Schade Investigation of a rotating, magnetically driven SF6 arc

162 A. Kurimoto, A. Aked and D. J. Tedford Pre-breakdown phenomena in long non-uniform-field gaps in SF6

307 C. S. Lakshminarasimha, R. Oliver and M. R. Barrault The influence of fuse strip materials on dc overcurrent arcing phenomena in hrc cartridge fuses

121 R. Le Ny, J. Charrier and A. Boulloud Simple models in room air simulating the influence of conducting microrugosity of the electrodes on the breakdown voltage in compressed gases

246 R. Le Ny, A. M. Le Ny and A. Boulloud Positive point-to-plane corona discharge: oscillations in Hermstein's glow

425 L. A. Levshuk and £. V. Chickin On rise of the electron beam current control efficiency in the gas discharge electron gun with a hollow anode

169 A. G. Liapin, V. I. Popkov and E. N. Shevtsov Positive dc point-to-plane dielectric strength of compressed gases

250 A. G. Liapin, V. I. Popkov and E. N. Shevtsov The range and criterion of similarity of dc corona on hyperboloids against plane in pressurized air and SF6

429 F. Llewellyn-Jones Some problems of micro-arc discharges

419 £. D. Lozansky Theory of the self-sustained discharge of short breakdown time

772 7". Makabe, Y. Ogawa, T. Goto and T. Mori Experimental electron energy distributions in Townsend discharges in Neon

203 J. E. Matthews Ionisation phenomena in non-uniform field gaps

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Page No. 390 I. Meyer and P. Stritzke Investigation of laser produced sparks in N2 and He

*439 J. Mitterauer Cathode processes in vacuum-breakdown and vacuum arcs

427 J. Mitterauer, P. Till, E. Fraunschiel and M. Haider Cathode induced vacuum-breakdown initiated by Joule heating and Nottingham effect

382 M. Moisan, C. Beaudry, L. Bertrand, E. Bloyet, J. M. Gagne, P. Leprince, J. Marec, G. Mitchel, A. Ricard and Z. Zakrzewski New RF plasma sources using surface wave propagation: characteristics and applications

16 R. W. Montgomery, M. Denby and B. D. Howes The dissipation of energy from a high current arc in a steelmaking environment

362 K. Ohe and S. Takeda Growth and saturation of ionization waves in positive columns of glow discharges

253 G. Pesavento Corona development in low-divergency fields

745 W. Pfeiffer Breakdown development in compressed sulphur hexafluoride

342 M. Popoviö, M. Dimitrijeviö and M. Platisa Low frequency oscillations in a plasma with negative ions

725 M. M. Popoviö, S. S. Popovic, V. T. Gia, P. Romeas and M. Skowronek Resistance of the beginning of high current discharges

369 L N. Pyatnitskii, V. M. Batenin, V. F. Chinnov and V. S. Zrodnikov Laser diagnostics of non-equilibrium microwave discharge

433 F. Rohrbach Recent developments in the application of high voltage gas breakdown in high energy nuclear physics

338 W. Rother and V. Bergmann Ion saturation current measurements wi th cylindrical probes in an argon high-current arc at atmospheric pressure

180 H. T. Saelee and J. Lucas

Electron swarms in hydrogen at high E/N

'Summary only.

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Page No. 224 E. C. Salthouse, J. Blackett and H. M. Ryan Effect of humidity on positive glow corona characteristics

145 S. Sangkasaad Breakdown characteristics of compressed SF6 in concentric spheres field

335 H. Schneider Stability-limit of a low density discharge in argon

397 J. M. S. Schofield The physics of gas discharge cells within dc memory display panels

415 A. Shamim and E. R. Wooding Radiative behaviour of an rf induction plasma torch in a pulsed magnetic field

94 J. C. Sherman, R. Webster, J. E. Jenkins and R. Holmes The spontaneous formation of cathode spots in high-current triggered vacuum switches and an estimate of the cathode spot current density on copper

349 G. G. Shishkin The radiation caused by the drift instability in the E-H discharge

287 C. Singarajah and D. J. Harris The extent of connecting streamers in lightning discharges

346 P. R. Smy Arc ignition in a low pressure argon plasma

157 G. Spence and H. M. Ryan Breakdown characteristics in high pressure SF6 for uniform and non-uniform fields

331 P. D. Stephens and J. E. Allen Axial wall currents in cylindrical metal discharge vessels

75 A. D. Stokes Post arc current measurements in a low pressure discharge and for gas blast arcs

444 L. Thomas Plasmas in space

323 S. Torven and M. Babit Current limitation in low pressure mercury arcs

379 Y. Vitel, M. Skowronek and M. M. Popoviö Spectroscopic study of dense plasmas of Argon and Xenon produced in flashtubes

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Contents

Page No. 59 A. E. Vlastos and S. Rusck The influence of a thin electrode coating on the ac breakdown of SF6

29 B. von Rein and W. Rother A simple model for calculating the dielectric breakdown in a decaying arc column

56 H. L Walmsley, G. R. Jones, F. H. Haji and D. C. Strachan Arc core variations in a circuit breaker test head

71 R. T. Waters and W. B. Stark Suppression of corona on line conductors in air

753 W. L. Watson and H. M. Ryan Breakdown and voltage-time characteristics in SF6 for voltages in the range 0.6-2MV