Let me try and reason my argument. If a piece of metal, say a bulb filament, be heated to a high temperature by means of an electric current; when the current ceases to flow the cooling rate of the metal must be a function of the dimensions, alloy and surface condition of the filament, in the radiative, convective and conductive conditions appertaining. The heating-up rate is constrained by slightly different conditions, ie the material properties as outlined above, plus the filament's resistance/temperature curve, the voltage applied over time, the original temperature and the ongoing heat losses as the temperature rises. As far as I can see these are the only conditions which appertain, and must embrace "thermal inertia". To cause premature failure of a filament would require a change in at least one of the conditions, and the only base variable is the voltage, which I think, intuitively, needs to increase.
$64000 Question: Does an arc produce higher voltages in a circuit?
