Activation of Electrical Contacts by Organic Vapors

Unreproducibility of earlier work on the erosion of relay contacts has been traced to the effects of organic vapors in the atmosphere. Carbon from decomposition of these vapors greatly alters the conditions under which an electric arc can be initiated and can be sustained. The importance from the standpoint of erosion comes from the fact that for many circuit conditions contacts activated by this carbon cannot be protected against severe arcing by any conventional capacitance-resistance network. This paper reports investigations which have enabled us to understand the activation of contacts by organic vapors.