Modelling of the exploding wire technique, a novel approach utilized for the synthesis of nanomaterials

Abstract

Abstract Of late, the exploding wire technique (EWT) is being popularly utilized for high yield synthesis of diverse nanomaterials. In this paper, we propose an equivalent electrical circuit-based model of this technique when the explosion of wire against a metallic plate takes place in the presence of aqueous medium. The wire transforms into plasma state immediately after explosion and formation of liquid-vapour mixed phase is imminent in this process. We elucidate the conversion of metallic wire into partially ionized plasma by a set of semi-empirical mathematical equations. We propose a mathematical electrical conductivity model for analysing complex behaviour of wire explosion in a liquid medium. The present work results are restricted to one-dimension but could be extended to two- and three-dimensional codes associated with the dynamics of z-pinch or x-pinch.