47
Ignitability is improved.
Also, the heat and vibrations experienced by the
electrodes at combustion are decreased, enabling an
increase in driving performance.
Q
5
A
Tapered cut
What advantages does the tapered cut in the
ground electrode have?
As explained in the answer to
Q2
, to improve ignitability,
an important characteristic of spark plugs, it is important
to minimize the portion of the electrode that comes in
contact with the flame nucleus. Because the area of
the
ground electrode with tapered cut
that comes into
contact with the flame nucleus is small, the heat lost to
the electrode is lessened and firing performance
improves dramatically. Also, the surface area and weight
of the ground electrode tip is reduced and so the load in
terms of heat and vibrations is lessened. This means
that the spark plug can cope with heavier driving
conditions.
