High Voltage Application of Explosively Formed Fuses

At Los Alamos, the authors have primarily applied Explosively Formed Fuse (EFF) techniques to high current systems. In these systems, the EFF has interrupted currents from 19 to 25 MA, thus diverting the current to low inductance loads. The magnitude of transferred current is determined by the ratio of storage inductance to load inductance, and with dynamic loads, the current has ranged from 12 to 20 MA. In a system with 18 MJ stored energy, the switch operates at a power up to 6 TW. The authors are now investigating the use of the EFF technique to apply high voltages to high impedance loads in systems that are more compact. In these systems, they are exploring circuits with EFF lengths from 43 to 100 cm, which have storage inductances large enough to apply 300 to 500 kV across high impedance loads. Experimental results and design considerations are presented. Using cylindrical EFF switches of 10 cm diameter and 43 cm length, currents of approximately 3 MA were interrupted producing {approximately}200 kV. This indicate s the switch had an effective resistance of {approximately}100 m{Omega} where 150--200 m{Omega} was expected. To understand the lower performance, several parameters were studied, including: electrical conduction through the explosive products; current density; explosive initiation; insulator type; conductor thickness; and so on. The results show a number of interesting features, most notably that the primary mechanism of switch operation is mechanical and not electrical fusing of the conductor. Switches opening on a 10 to 10 {micro}s time scale with resistances starting at 50 {micro}{Omega} and increasing to perhaps 1 {Omega} now seem possible to construct, using explosive charges as small as a few pounds