Electroexplosive device

An electroexplosive device is presented which employs a header having contact pins hermetically sealed with glass passing through from a connector end of the header to a cavity filled with a shunt layer of a new nonlinear resistive composition and a heat-sink layer of a new dielectric composition having good thermal conductivity and capacity. The nonlinear resistive layer and the heat-sink layer are prepared from materials by mixing with a low temperature polymerizing resin. The resin is dissolved in a suitable solvent and later evaporated. The resultant solid composite is ground into a powder, press formed into the header and cured (polymerized) at about 250 to 300 F

Simple non-destructive tests for electroexplosive devices

Electrothermal behavior of bridgewire-explosive interface is defined by pulsing electroexplosive device with a safe level of current and examining the resistance variation of bridgewire. Bridgewire provides signal which describes average wire temperature and heat sinking to the explosive and enclosure

Optically detonated explosive device

A technique and apparatus for optically detonating insensitive high explosives, is disclosed. An explosive device is formed by containing high explosive material in a house having a transparent window. A thin metallic film is provided on the interior surface of the window and maintained in contact with the high explosive. A laser pulse provided by a Q-switched laser is focussed on the window to vaporize the metallic film and thereby create a shock wave which detonates the high explosive. Explosive devices may be concurrently or sequentially detonated by employing a fiber optic bundle to transmit the laser pulse to each of the several individual explosive devices

A High-efficiency, Small, Solid-state Laser for Pyrotechnic Ignition

A completely self-contained, small, neodymium laser has been designed and demonstrated for use in a pyrotechnic ignition system. A nominal 16 J of laser energy (1.06 micron wavelength, 1-ms duration) was achieved in a rectangular 10.5-X 15.1-X 25.4-cm package weighting 5.14 kg. This high energy-to-weight ratio is encouraging for laser applications in which specific energy efficiency (energy per unit weight or volume) is important. The laser design concepts are described, and some results on pyrotechnic ignition are given. Some details on a laser currently under construction, which will be 1/8 the size of the above laser, are included

Electrothermal follow display apparatus for electroexplosive device testing

A self-balancing bridge for ascertaining the electrothermal and nonlinear behavior of an electroexplosive device is described. A sinusiodal current is passed through the device which provides a signal in the form of a unique Lissajous display. The display can be qualitatively evaluated and abnormal units can be readily detected

Nondestructive testing of insensitive electroexplosive devices by transient techniques

Nondestructive testing of insensitive electroexplosive devices by transient technique

Generation of Narrow High Current Pulses

Many of the fundamental factors affecting the initiation of electroexplosive devices have not been satisfactorily explained. A description of a narrow, high current pulse generator capable of pulses 4 microseconds wide and 94 amperes is given which will be useful in the study of the initiation mechanism

Terminated capacitor discharge firing of electroexplosive devices

Terminated capacitor discharge firing of electroexplosive device

Half-sine wave pulse firing of electroexplosive devices

Half-sine wave pulse firing of electroexplosive device

Isotopic Composition of Light Nuclei in Cosmic Rays: Results from AMS-01

The variety of isotopes in cosmic rays allows us to study different aspects of the processes that cosmic rays undergo between the time they are produced and the time of their arrival in the heliosphere. In this paper we present measurements of the isotopic ratios 2H/4He, 3He/4He, 6Li/7Li, 7Be/(9Be+10Be) and 10B/11B in the range 0.2-1.4 GeV of kinetic energy per nucleon. The measurements are based on the data collected by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, AMS-01, during the STS-91 flight in 1998 June.Comment: To appear in ApJ. 12 pages, 11 figures, 6 table