These are the ultimate plasma electrodes and, yes, they are manufactured from solid silver! You can cut faster and the electrodes last longer. This is because silver has highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal (approx. 5.5% electrical & 6% thermal better conductivity than copper) so electrically more of the current is going into the arc and not just heating the cooling water! And as silver is more thermally conductive, the heat that is generated is transferred to the cooling water quicker making the electrode run cooler. The other reason for the dramatic increase in life is the fact that silver does not like emitting an arc. So as the hafnium insert erodes with each fire-up it can erode much further back in a silver bodied electrode than a copper bodied one, sometimes up to three times the depth before the arc tries to emit from the body of the electrode which is the end of the electrode’s life. Water cooling the electrode is almost essential for production cutting, especially above 120amps. The down side is a more complex system with the cooling units and hoses to the torch which require more maintenance.