The electrical specific-action-to-melt of structural copper and aluminum alloys

We present measurements of the electrical specific action to melt of structural alloys of copper and aluminum, including C11000, C18000, C18200, Al6061 and Al7075. The electrical specific action to melt for these materials, which previously had not been measured, is important to the design of structural conductors, such as rails and armatures in railguns. We performed these measurements using a new macroscopic exploding wire experiment technique, because such structural alloys are not commonly produced in fine wire form. We manufactured macroscopic samples of the alloys (0.25×0.5 mm cross section) using Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM), and pulse heated the samples using a fast capacitor bank. We include the theoretical design considerations for such macroscopic exploding wire experiments.