The wear of metal impregnation carbon material will be more severe when subjected to arc erosion. Consequently

we experimentally investigated the arc erosion by using copper-impregnated carbon materials and copper electrode

and clarified the interaction mechanism between copper-impregnated carbon materials and arc. Moreover

we analyzed the breaking arc combustion process and the effect of copper-impregnated carbon materials

and discussed the influences of arc erosion on the macroscopic and microscopic appearances as well as phases of copper-impregnated carbon materials. The research results show that the copper phase in copper-impregnated carbon materials can provide high-temperature metal vapor for the ignition and stable combustion process of arc

and the size and distribution of copper phase will affect the movement of arc root. Besides

the arc affected zone can be divided into two parts according to the main reaction. One is the arc erosion region

the other is heat affected region

which results from the arc-induced temperature gradient on the cathode surface. With the movement of arc root

the droplet ejection will occur

which will cause the loss

transformation and redistribution of copper phase of copper-impregnated carbon materials surface. This research work will be helpful for finding effective measures to decrease the erosion degree of copper-impregnated carbon materials and prolong its service life.