The melting and evaporation of a pointed anode under conditions of low-voltage discharge in air

The regularities of erosion of a pointed anode depending on the parameters of single electric discharges in an air medium, are analyzed. Melting and evaporation are basic mechanisms of destruction of electrodes under the effect of electric-spark machining. Stationary electrodes in an air medium were used to make researchers enable to determine the position of the front of melting and evaporation of the anode relative to the cathode surface and the geometric dimensions of the melted region. It was assumed that melted region has the form of a body of revolution, and its volume was calculated on the basis of the cross-sectional dimensions of the droplet. The information regarding the effect of the single electric discharge in an air medium can be used to determine the linear dependence of the volume of melted and evaporated material of a pointed anode on the action integral of current.