Foil liner implosions with a nanosecond rise time of current through the liner

Abstract

Abstract The paper presents the results of experiments on the implosion of cylindrical liners made of aluminum foil and mylar film with a deposited layer of aluminum. To reduce the rise time of current through a liner to several nanoseconds (1–3 ns), a low-density plasma was injected into the liner area. The experiments were carried out on the MIG generator at a current level through the liner of about 2 MA. A liner with a diameter of 1.8 mm, made of aluminum-deposited 2.5-μm thick mylar film, implodes in 11 ns and has a final velocity of 2×107 cm·s−1. The radius of pinched plasma is about 80–100 μm, which corresponds to a 20-fold radial convergence of the liner.