Effect of the Circuit and Wire Parameters on Exploding an Al Wire in Water

The underwater electrical explosion of an aluminum wire is influenced by many factors, such as wire parameters, pulsed power energy, etc. In this paper, underwater electrical explosion of an aluminum wire was investigated with pulsed voltage in the time scale of a few microseconds. A self-integrated Rogowski coil and a voltage divider were used for the measurements of current and voltage at the wire load, respectively. The deposited energy before breakdown was calculated based on experimental waveforms of current and voltage by mathematical method. Influences of the applied voltage, circuit inductance and parameters of Al wire on the electrical explosion and energy deposition were analyzed by means of experiments and calculation. The results show that the current rise rate has an important influence on explosion process, such as the energy deposition before breakdown, the electrical power as well as the various explosion stages. A higher current rise rate can be achieved by increasing applied voltage and decreasing circuit inductance. The inhomogeneity of the energy deposition will result in prematured breakdown as well as lowered energy deposition, making the explosion process of wire more complicated.