Experimental analysis on the exploding wire process for nanopowder production: Influence of initial energy and exploding atmosphere

Abstract

Metallic nanopowder is employed in several applications for its flexibility of use, thus its production is growing over the years. Exploding wire technique can produce a wide range of nanoparticles from electrically conducting samples, and it has a potential for high efficiency and productivity, due to the strongly localized power dissipation. On the other hand, the phenomena involved during the explosion are complex, and phenomenological relationships are usually considered for controlling the output product characteristics. In this study, we investigated the effect of the input energy and the medium in which the explosion takes place on the final dimensional distribution of the nanopowder. Utilizing a proper power supply and an exploding system developed on purpose, we applied up to 10 GA/m2 to copper wire samples immersed in air or water. We collected the products for morphological analysis, we carried out a shape and dimensional characterization based on a statistical analysis of the obtained particles, and we compared and discussed the results concerning the adopted initial conditions and the most recent literature data.