Abstract
The bridge and short arc erosion of copper, silver, and palladium contacts and a number of alloys of these materials has been measured as a function of the break current in a circuit containing only a small amount of inductance. A theory is presented for calculating the arc duration, the charge passed by the arc, and the arc energy. Under the described conditions the total charge passed in the arc as well as the arc energy is proportional to the square of the rupture current. Short arc erosion in such a circuit will show, therefore, the same current dependence as bridge transfer. While it is possible to effectively separate the two types of erosion by controlling the circuit inductance evidence is presented to indicate that the two processes may not be completely independent.