Nanosecond electrical explosion of twisted aluminum wires

Abstract

The experiments on nanosecond electrical explosion of twisted aluminum wires with different wavelengths (λt=0.37, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0 mm) are carried out. The experimental results indicate that a specific wavelength can strongly affect the energy deposition, expansion velocity, and radiation intensity. The energy deposition is about 3.3 times the atomic enthalpy of aluminum when the twisted wavelength is 0.5 mm. While for the other three twisted wavelengths, the energy depositions are all about 1.8 times the atomic enthalpy. The expansion velocity is about 3.8×103 m·s-1 for the wavelength 0.5 mm, and the optical radiation intensity is also strongest for this wavelength. The initial twisted structure is strongly imprinted in the freely expanding aluminum column after the electrical explosion. In the experiments for the wavelength 0.5 mm, a neural particle column with a diameter of 1.6 mm is formed and its density is about 1019 cm-3 at t=246 ns. A periodic structure with the wavelength 0.5 mm and the amplitude 0.3 mm is observed on the surface of this column.