Progress on the electro-thermo-mechanical instability and its role as seed on plasma instabilities

Abstract

Abstract It was recently demonstrated that a newly explored instability, which was named electro-thermo-mechanical (ETM) instability, was developed in the solid elastic phase in the case of an electrically exploded conductor in the skin effect mode. Here, we present new advances in the exploration of the role of the ETM instability as seed of the magneto-hydro-dynamic instabilities that are later observed in the plasma phase. Our study, through analytical calculations, simulations and experiments, demonstrates the whole evolution dynamics of the instability amplitude, from the solid to the plasma phase, including the phase transitions. It is validated that the sustained axial wavelength modes in the plasma phase lie in the range of values of those of the ETM instability developed in the solid phase. The results are of significant importance for understanding the role of the ETM instability as seeding for the later observed instabilities in the plasma phase.