Title :
The Electrical Specific Action to Melt of Structural Copper and Aluminum Alloys
Author :
Vanderburg, Andrew ; Stefani, Francis ; Sitzman, Alex ; Crawford, Melba ; Surls, Dwayne ; Ling, Charles ; McDonald, John
Author_Institution :
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophys., Cambridge, MA, USA
Abstract :
This paper describes an exploding wire experiment to measure the electrical specific action to melt of structural alloys of copper and aluminum, including C10100, C11000, C18000, C18200, Al6061, and Al7075. These alloys, which are commonly used in railguns and other pulsed power devices, are not produced in fine wire form. Instead of wires, we developed a technique to test macroscopic samples (0.25 mm × 0.5 mm cross section) manufactured with wire electrical discharge machining. This paper includes a description of the design considerations for such macroscopic exploding wire experiments.
Keywords :
aluminium alloys; copper alloys; electrical discharge machining; Al6061; Al7075; C10100; C11000; C18000; C18200; design considerations; electrical specific action; fine wire form; macroscopic exploding wire experiments; macroscopic samples; pulsed power devices; railguns; structural aluminum alloy melting; structural copper alloy melting; wire electrical discharge machining; Copper; Current density; Heating; Rough surfaces; Surface roughness; Thermal expansion; Wires; Al6061; Al7075; C10100; C11000; C18000; C18200; aluminum alloy; electrical action to melt; exploding wire experiment; specific action to melt; specific action to melt.;
Journal_Title :
Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TPS.2014.2313292
