Conducting Medium Electrical Conductivity at High Current Density

Abstract

The experimental research example of electrical characteristics of structurally heterogeneous thinlayer conductors (nickel, copper) at high current density (108--109 А/m2) is shown. This current density in conditions of the samples intensive cooling is sufficient for the process of irreversible, nonthermally activated deformation. The experiment results show that the conducting medium at high current density has essential nonlinearities expressed in nonlinear dependence of the samples electrical resistance from current density. With repeated current treatments of the samples the conductors' electrical resistivity decreases. The number of defects removed from the volume of material as a result of nickel foil treatment by electric current is estimated. It is shown that under conditions of highdensity direct electric current flow in microvolumes of homogeneous and inhomogeneous conducting media a volume charge can appear. The appearance of the volume charge in a conducting medium can be caused by interaction forces during the motion of electrons and ions. Due to the interaction forces between ions and electrons of basic material and impurities, additional local ionization occurs which is realized in nano-volumes of a conductor. In the case of heterogeneous medium, the volume charge depends on the nature of the specific conductivity distribution. In a homogeneous conductor the volume charge is proportional to the square of the current density in the sample