VELOCITY EFFECTS ON METAL ARMATURE CONTACT TRANSITION

At the 5th EML Symposium we presented the adiabatic model of contact transition in armatures. We also presented data on contact transition at velocities up to 1250 m/s which showed no velocity dependence and no velocity limit. We have since extended our observation to 1850 m/s, again with no velocity effect or limit. Both friction and the velocity skin effect have been proposed as potential velocity limiting mechanisms for non-arcing armature contacts. The experimental evidence is that neither has a significant effect, at least up to the 2 km/s regime. In this paper we examine both friction and the velocity skin effect in the context of the adiabatic contact model. We show that neither mechanism presents a velocity barrier or limit for metal armature contacts.