Spiroflex wrote:
> September 27, 1999Hi Bob and Vikki, Here is my theory as to why one > of my electrodes became much skinnier than the other one - while using > a polarity switching CS generator without a stirrer. This uneven > electrode wear occurred while producing a bit less than 24 batches of > 16 oz of DW with a starting current of approx .40 mA and running each > batch for four hours. I think the uneven wear started due to my > contaminating the one electrode more than the other by touching it > more with my bare fingers before immersing it into the unit in the DW. > The usual reason for my touching the electrodes was to straighten one > of them or to modify the distance between the electrode tips, "just a > hair." My presumption is that once one electrode is ever so slightly > smaller than the other electrode it will have a higher current density > and will then wear out faster than the other one. Thus begins an ever > increasing faster rate of wear for the skinnier electrode. Once uneven > wear starts, the process is irreversible and is also self > accelerating. Polarity switching won't stop it, only slow it down. > Agree or disagree? > Agree. However I believe that the culprit may also be that the > voltage gradient is higher on the smaller wire, rather than the higher > current density. The higher gradient allows the particles to get > further away before the polarity switch, so less of them get sucked > back and reattached to the electrode. > > Marshall
