Underwater electrical wire explosion

Summary form only given: Results of underwater electrical wire explosion (UEWE) in nanosecond (ns) and sub-microsecond time (sub-mus) scales are presented. In ns timescale experiments a generator (~110 kV, ~70 kA, ~60 ns) was used for electrical explosion of Cu wires 0.1 mm in diameter and 50 mm in length. It was shown that UEWE is not governed by the "polarity" effect which plays an important role in electrical wire explosions in vacuum. It was found a drastic decrease in the spectrum intensity at lambda < 400 nm which was is explained by the formation of a thin "water" plasma layer in the vicinity of the exploding wire plasma. In sub-mus timescale experiments a generator (~28 kV, ~240 kA, ~0.9 mus) was used for electrical explosion of a cylindrical array of 40 Cu wires 0.1 mm in diameter and 40 mm in length. A novel method of the converging shock pressure determination in the vicinity of the implosion is described.