A CHEMICAL REACTOR UTILIZING SUCCESSIVE MULTIPLE ELECTRICAL EXPLOSIONS OF METAL WIRES,

摘要

A severe limitation in the use of the exploding wire phenomenon for chemical synthesis has been the relatively small amount of product that can be prepared by single metal explosions. This problem has been overcome by development of a successive multiple explosion technique in which a large number of wire explosions can be effected in rapid-fire order,without breaking the initial vacuum seal. Pre-set wires are contained in a cylinder that is rotated stepwise over an orifice,thereby dropping the wires into a lower chamber where contact is made with stationary electrodes,across which a high potential has been imposed. This technique is shown to be at least as effective as the single explosion technique in the preparation of compounds that are relatively free of unreacted metal. This technique can also be used for the preparation of specific particle sizes. The particle size of product powders is quite dependent upon the magnitude of the applied voltage. In general particle size decreases with increased voltage. (Author)