Publications Details

Coincidence of the Measured Voltage Peak and the Measured Current Inflection Point in Exploding Metals

Valancius, Cole J.; Olles, Joseph D.

Exploding Bridgewire (EBW) Detonators and Exploding Foil Initiators (EFI's, e.g. Slappers) have unique current and voltage characteristics marked by a large voltage spike and an inflection point in the current. Mathematically, it is shown that the voltage peak and the current inflection point must align in time. Models concur with the math and show voltage peaks occurring at the same point in time as the inflection point. Circuit analysis is performed to demonstrate why the voltage peak and current inflection point will almost never align in time for an experiment. To correctly analyze exploding metal behavior, the current inflection point and voltage peak must be manually aligned in time. These conclusions apply to single detonators where current and voltage is measured on those detonators. In multi-detonator systems, the conclusions herein apply only for cases where current and voltage are obtained for each detonator individually. The conclusions will begin to break down as measurements become combined.