Search

A semi-empirical equation of state model for aluminum in a warm dense matter regime is constructed. The equation of state, which is subdivided into a cold term, thermal contributions of ions and electrons, covers a broad range of phase diagram from solid state to plasma state. The cold term and thermal contribution of ions are from the Bushman–Lomonosov model, in which several undetermined parameters are fitted based on equation of state theories and specific experimental data. The Thomas–Fermi–Kirzhnits model is employed to estimate the thermal contribution of electrons. Some practical modifications are introduced to the Thomas–Fermi–Kirzhnits model to improve the prediction of the equation of state model. Theoretical calculation of thermodynamic parameters, including phase diagram, curves of isothermal compression at ambient temperature, melting, and Hugoniot, are analyzed and compared with relevant experimental data and other theoretical evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a computational model is constructed to investigate the phenomenon of the initial plasma formation and current transfer in the single-wire electrical explosion in a vacuum. The process of the single-wire electrical explosion is divided into four stages. Stage I: the wire is in solid state. Stage II: the melting stage. Stage III: the wire melts completely and the initial plasma forms. Stage IV: the core and corona expand separately. The thermodynamic calculation is applied before the wire melts completely in stages I and II. In stage III, a one-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics model comes into play until the instant when the voltage collapse occurs. The temperature, density, and velocity, which are derived from the magnetohydrodynamics calculation, are averaged over the distribution area. The averaged parameters are taken as the initial conditions for stage IV in which a simplified magnetohydrodynamics model is applied. A wide-range semi-empirical equation of state, which is established based on the Thomas–Fermi–Kirzhnits model, is constructed to describe the phase transition from solid state to plasma state. The initial plasma formation and the phenomenon of current transfer in the electrical explosion of aluminum wire are investigated using the computational model. Experiments of electrical explosion of aluminum wires are carried out to verify this model. Simulation results are also compared with experimental results of the electrical explosion of copper wire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]