Comparative analysis of craters formed on cathode and anode spots of a spark discharge in air on iron electrodes

Abstract

The article describes the procedure for fast processing of images of electrode spots of an oscillatory and unipolar spark discharge on a flat surface of an iron electrode in an atmosphere of air. The images were taken using a NewView 5010 surface analyzer (interference microscope). Crater diameters were measured using a program for measuring the particle size of nanopowders. A comparative statistical analysis of the distributions of diameters was carried out using tests for comparing samples, as well as analysis of variance procedures included in the Excel soft package. The spot number (i.e. discharge energy) and experimental conditions (cathode, anode, oscillatory discharge) were as factors. It is shown that the parameters of the crater diameter distribution weakly or even insignificantly depend on the capacitor energy. At the same time, they very significantly depend on the discharge conditions. It is also shown that the maximum relief heights and crater depths in the case of an oscillatory discharge are several times higher than their values for a unipolar discharge.