The integral of specific current action and the specific energy input under fast electrical explosion

In this paper, the electrical explosion of wires is considered as a method of study of material behavior under the condition of fast heating. The fast electrical explosion is characterized by the following conditions: the heating time is less than the time required for development of capillary and magnetohydrodynamic instabilities; and it is more than the time for the propagation of the current across the wire. Corresponding similarity criteria have been formed for each of the processes disturbing the uniform heating of a wire. Determined conditions of the fast electrical explosion have been experimentally realized. The current density varied from 10⁷ to 10⁹ A/cm² causing heating rates between 10¹⁰ and 10¹³ J/(g·s). Exploded wires of copper, nickel, tungsten and molybdenum were investigated. These experiments showed that the energy density introduced into the wire material depends on the heating rate (i.e. the current density). Sixfold overheating of materials in the condensed state has been obtained. The specific current action also increases with increasing current density but to a less degree than the energy input. So, the increase in the heating rate by a factor of 10⁴ causes the increase in the energy density by an order of magnitude and the increase in the specific action by approximately three times