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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 - 4:00 PM
EFF 3.5

Ultrafine Coatings on Inner Walls of Small ID Tubes by Electroexplosion Technique

M. Batalov, P. S. Mohanty, University of Michigan, Dearborn, MI; A. Hart, U. S. Army, Warren, MI

When a high density current (~ 1010 A/m2) is rapidly passed through a metallic wire using an inductive-capacitance (LC)-circuit, the wire explodes destructively. Depending upon the energy introduced into the wire, the explosion products can be in liquid, vapor, vapor-plasma, or fully plasma states. Electroexplosion experiments were conducted inside tubes (ID~10-40mm) in a vacuum chamber evacuated and then filled with Ar gas at low pressure. An annular electrode was used to attract the plasma to the tube wall. The condensation of the plasma resulted in ultra-fine coating on the inside wall. Although some isolated micron size droplets were found on the coating, overall the coating surface was very smooth which was characterized by AFM scan. The effect of energy introduced, wire material, wire radius, current density, and properties of the surroundings gas along with potential applications of the technique will be discussed.

Summary: When a high density current is rapidly passed through a metallic wire, the wire explodes destructively. The explosion products can be in liquid, vapor vapor-plasma, or fully plasma states. The condensation of the plasma resulted in an ultra-fine coating on the inside wall, (ID~1-10mm) which was characterized by an AFM scan.