Electric Explosion of Aluminum Metallized Film

Zirnheld, J.; Olabisi, S.; Burke, K.; DiSanto, Thomas M.; Moore, Harry L.; Singh, Hardev

doi:10.1109/tps.2009.2032547

Cited by 15 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…This physical phenomenon, the electrical explosion of the thin metallic foil, is usually referred as the bridge burst. Electrical exploding of small sized metallic conductors can also be used in novel applications in other technical fields, including nanoparticle production, the precision joining of metal and ceramic specimens, and fast-acting opening switches [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bridge Burst Characteristics of Aluminum and Copper Thin-Film Bridges in Electrical Initiation Devices

Kim¹

2018

Korean J. Met. Mater.

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The optimal design of electrical initiation devices for explosive charges and other high energy materials critically depends on the bridge burst or the electrical explosion of the thin-film metallic bridges. It is therefore quite important to select the right material with suitable explosion properties for the metallic bridge film. However, so far, no dedicated studies, experimental or theoretical, have been carried out to quantify those explosion properties for thin-filmed bridges of various metals. This study employed numerical modeling of the joule heating and bridge plasma expansion by intense electrical energy deposition in aluminum and copper bridges to evaluate and compare the explosion properties such as bridge burst time, bridge burst current density, and threshold charging voltage for the two metallic bridge materials. The prediction model of bridge burst also considered a pulsed electrical input from an RLC initiation circuit as well as plasma property calculations of the aluminum and copper plasma vapor for the state equation of the ionized vapor and the plasma electrical conductivity. The numerical predictions were in excellent agreement with the corresponding measured data of bridge bursts in a series of exploding foil initiator firing tests. The copper bridge was found to possess better explosion properties than the aluminum bridge, showing significantly higher bridge burst current density and threshold charging voltage. These findings confirmed that the copper bridge may provide higher safety and reliability in electrical initiation devices. The theoretical model and results in the present study could be useful for selecting bridge materials and designing electrical initiators or other metallic bridge explosion applications.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bridge Burst Characteristics of Aluminum and Copper Thin-Film Bridges in Electrical Initiation Devices

Kim¹

2018

Korean J. Met. Mater.

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“…The initial strike is typified by Joule heating of the conductor to a superheated liquid state. If there is sufficient energy remaining after the initial strike, a restrike occurs, where a highcurrent thermal plasma forms and produces a shockwave [1]. The drawn out initial strike required to remove the concussive shock of a restrike in ceramic joining applications [2] is clearly detrimental to a fast opening switch, and so, the nature of the explosion must be understood and matched to the application.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The action integral is the integral of current density squared with respect to time [1]. Using the methods discussed in [1], film widths and circuit inductances were chosen to enhance the initial strike or restrike when desired. In this experiment, the circuit inductance and the film width were varied to achieve explosion modes with and without a restrike.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Examination of Initial Strike and Restrike Modes in Exploding Metallized Films

Muffoletto

DiSanto

Burke

et al. 2011

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

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The discharge modes of a capacitive exploding metallized film setup are discerned. Long exposure still images of the plasma formation during the initial strike and restrike are presented.Index Terms-Aluminum metallized film, exploding film, plasma imaging, pulsed power. E LECTRICAL exploding films have been used in a wide variety of applications, including fast opening switches, ceramic joining, and production of nanopowders and initiators. An exploding conductor event is separated into two distinct regions. The initial strike is typified by Joule heating of the conductor to a superheated liquid state. If there is sufficient energy remaining after the initial strike, a restrike occurs, where a highcurrent thermal plasma forms and produces a shockwave [1]. The drawn out initial strike required to remove the concussive shock of a restrike in ceramic joining applications [2] is clearly detrimental to a fast opening switch, and so, the nature of the explosion must be understood and matched to the application.To better visualize the formation of the plasma channels that form across the surface of the film, still images of an exploding film event were taken. A 10.2-cm-long sheet of capacitor grade aluminum metallized film (255-Å-thick aluminum layer deposited on a polypropylene substrate) was connected to copper electrodes spaced 7.6 cm apart. A 2-μF capacitor charged to 2.5 kV was then discharged through the film. A digital SLR camera (Canon EOS 300D with Canon EF-S 18-55-mm lens) set with a 5-s exposure time was used to capture the entirety of the event. Because there was no ambient lighting of the film, the resulting photographs represent the time-averaged light intensity output of the plasma. Since the event is bright, a neutral density filter (ND4) was used in addition to the low aperture settings so that the sensor was not overexposed.It has been established that the discharge circuit's parameters and the specific action integral of a material determine if the energy stored in the capacitor is consumed in the initial strike.Manuscript

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