Abstract
Experiments were carried out at several voltages to clarify the influence of the voltage on various characteristics, i.e. arc duration, contact resistance, arc energy, and the change in electrode mass. The voltage was varied from DC100V to 160V, the load current was fixed at 5A constant, and the electromagnetic contactor was operated continuously up to 100,000 times. The experiments were carried out under the three operation modes which are classified by the arc discharge. As a result, the relation between the operation mode and contact resistance was clarified. When only a make arc was generated, the contact resistance was smallest. In addition, the contact resistance was not affected by the source voltage.