Evaluation of energy deposition rate of exploded wire under different initial capacitor voltage for thin film production

Thin film production by exploding wires is affected by many factors; one of such factors is the energy deposition rate. The research in this study focused on measuring the voltage and current of an exploding copper wire that was 15 cm long and 0.3 mm in diameter. The time-dependent wire resistance and the energy deposited into the wire were deduced from the measured voltage and current, and the maximum wire resistance was observed at the time when part of the wire mass was heated up to the boiling point, which were called critical time and critical point respectively. From the experiment, the following statements could be surmised: the maximum wire resistance increases from about 224.4 mΩ to 266.1 mΩ and the critical time reduces from about 8.8 μs to 7.2 μs when the initial capacitor voltage changes from 10 kV to 20 kV, as well as the fact that the mean energy depositing rate varies from about 13.3 J/μs to 27.6 J/μs before the critical point. This result demonstrates that a faster energy depositing rate can help to heat up the wire mass more uniformly and more wire mass would evaporate before the critical time to create a greater wire resistance at the critical point.