Mechanism of erosion of metal-electrodes of the channel of a MHD generator

The erosion of a cathode by slowly moving arc spots burning in the combustion products with potassium seeding in the channel of a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generator was investigated. On the basis of a numerical analysis of a system of equations for the cathode region of the investigated type of spots it is shown that erosion of the electrode is determined largely by its emission properties and is caused by vaporization of the cathode material.