Chemically etched modulation in wire radius for wire array Z-pinch perturbation studies.
- Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London, UK
- MPCL/Ktech Corp., Albuquerque, New Mexico
A technique for manufacturing wires with imposed modulation in radius with axial wavelengths as short as 1 mm is presented. Extruded aluminum 5056 with 15 {micro}m diameter was masked and chemically etched to reduce the radius by {approx}20% in selected regions. Characterized by scanning electron microscopy, the modulation in radius is a step function with a {approx}10 {micro}m wide conical transition between thick and thin segments, with some pitting in etched regions. Techniques for mounting and aligning these wires in arrays for fast z-pinch experiments will be discussed. Axially mass-modulated wire arrays of this type will allow the study of seeded Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities in z pinches, corona formation, wire initiation with varying current density in the wire core, and correlation of perturbations between adjacent wires. This tool will support magnetohydrodynamics code validation in complex three-dimensional geometries, and perhaps x-ray pulse shaping.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Laboratories
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 952819
- Report Number(s):
- SAND2004-2842J
- Journal Information:
- Proposed for publication in Review of Scientific Instruments., Journal Name: Proposed for publication in Review of Scientific Instruments.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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