The multi-electrode arc plasma has attracted wide attention in various scientific studies. A multi-cathode arc plasma generator with a 20 mm-diameter anode channel is studied in this work. Experiments were carried out to obtain arc plasma images and the arc voltage spectrum at different currents. At a current of 30A, the arc produced by the cathode is independent, and at a current of 50A, the arc produced by the cathode is coupled together in the center of the arc chamber. The results show that both the voltage and spatial distribution of each arc of multiple arcs are more stable when the current is 50A. Additionally, we constructed a 3D stable non-local thermal equilibrium model to calculate the temperature, current density, and Lorentz force fields of the multi-cathode torch. The voltages obtained in numerical and experimental results show good agreement. The numerical results show that the Lorentz force distributions and current intensity increase as current increases. The greater the current, the stronger the interaction between the arc plasmas. In addition, the speed of the multi-cathode plasma is lower than that in a traditional arc torch. The combined results are then used to analyze the forming mechanism of arc plasma in the multi-cathode torch. Lorentz forces play a critical role in the characteristics of the plasma in the multi-cathode arc generator.

多电极电弧等离子体在各种科学研究中引起了广泛的关注。本文研究了一种具有直径 20 mm 阳极通道的多阴极电弧等离子体发生器。进行实验以获得电弧等离子体图像和不同电流下的电弧电压谱。在30A的电流下，阴极产生的电弧是独立的，在50A的电流下，阴极产生的电弧在灭弧室的中心耦合在一起。结果表明，当电流为50A时，多条电弧中每条电弧的电压和空间分布都比较稳定。此外，我们构建了一个 3D 稳定的非局部热平衡模型来计算多阴极炬的温度、电流密度和洛伦兹力场。数值结果和实验结果获得的电压表现出良好的一致性。数值结果表明，洛伦兹力分布和电流强度随着电流的增加而增加。电流越大，电弧等离子体之间的相互作用越强。此外，多阴极等离子体的速度低于传统电弧炬的速度。然后将综合结果用于分析多阴极炬中电弧等离子体的形成机制。洛伦兹力对多阴极电弧发生器中等离子体的特性起着至关重要的作用。多阴极等离子体的速度低于传统电弧炬的速度。然后将综合结果用于分析多阴极炬中电弧等离子体的形成机制。洛伦兹力对多阴极电弧发生器中等离子体的特性起着至关重要的作用。多阴极等离子体的速度低于传统电弧炬的速度。然后将综合结果用于分析多阴极炬中电弧等离子体的形成机制。洛伦兹力对多阴极电弧发生器中等离子体的特性起着至关重要的作用。