Why high pulsed currents shatter metal wires?

Author

Lukyanov, A. ; Molokov, S.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Math. & Inf. Sci., Coventry Univ., UK

Volume

2

fYear

2001

Firstpage

1599

Abstract

If a pulsed current is supplied to a thin metal wire the latter may disintegrate in the solid state. This occurs when the current density is not too high. A review of both theoretical and experimental results on the wire fragmentation due to high pulsed currents is given. It is shown that the main mechanisms of wire disintegration are stress waves induced by thermal expansion of the material owing to Joule heating and thermal shock due to arcs.

Keywords

buckling; exploding wires; fracture; magnetocaloric effects; pulsed power technology; thermal expansion; thermal stresses; thermoelasticity; Joule heating; air gap; arcs; buckling; current density; current risetime; external circuit; flexural vibrations; fracture surfaces; high pulsed current effects; magneto-thermo-elasticity; one-dimensional model; plastic effects; pulsed current; shattering; stress wave propagation; thermal expansion; thermal shock; thermal stress waves; thin metal wire; wire disintegration mechanism; wire ends; wire fragmentation; Current supplies; Equations; Explosions; Heating; Plastics; Solid state circuits; Surface cracks; Thermal expansion; Thermal stresses; Wire;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Pulsed Power Plasma Science, 2001. PPPS-2001. Digest of Technical Papers

Conference_Location

Las Vegas, NV, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7120-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PPPS.2001.1001869

Filename

1001869