Multichannel discharge characteristics of gas switch gap in SF ₆-N ₂ or SF ₆-ar gas mixtures under nanosecond triggering pulses

Experiments were carried out to ascertain multichannel discharge characteristics in a self-designed coaxial field-distortion gas switch filled with SF ₆-N ₂ or SF ₆-Ar gas mixtures of different mixing ratios. In these experiments, the pressure varied from 0.1 MPa to 0.2 MPa, the voltage pulse peak applied to the switch was in the range from 40 kV to 78 kV, and the pulse rise time was 11 ns. The static breakdown strength of the gas switch gap in the switch was also measured. The results show that in general the average number of discharge channels for SF ₆-Ar or SF ₆-N ₂ gas mixture which contains less SF ₆ is larger than that for gas mixture which contains more SF ₆, however, the average number of channels almost keeps constant as the gas mixing ratio varies when the pulse rise rate is high enough. The static breakdown strength of the gas switch gap decreases slightly as the content of argon or nitrogen increases.