Effect of Wire Cross Section on the First Pulse of an Exploding Wire

The optimum discharge in an exploding wire circuit is described. In this type of discharge, the stored energy of the capacitor discharges completely during the first pulse of the exploding wire phenomenon. It was determined from the results of experiments conducted in air at atmospheric pressure with Cu, Ag, and Pt wires that for an optimum discharge the initial voltage of the capacitor is directly proportional to the wire cross sectional area, and it is independent of the wire length. Consequently, the ratio of the stored energy of an optimum discharge to the mass of the wire is proportional to the inverse of the resistance of the wire at room temperature. The wire length was varied from 2.5 to 17.8 cm and the wire cross sectional area was varied from 4.8×10−5 to 3.2×10−3 cm2.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69687/2/RSINAK-36-9-1327-1.pd