Influence of Partial Reheating on Aluminum Nanoparticles From Electrical Exploding Wires

Nano-aluminum particles are fabricated by the electrical explosion of wires (EEW) in argon atmosphere. The characteristics of the current, voltage, and the deposited energy of exploding Al wire with and without the shunting gap are studied. In order to understand the influence of the partial reheating process on the production of nanoparticles, the shadowgraphs are used to study the expansion process of the exploding Al with and without the shunting gap, it is observed that the expansion rates of exploding Al without the shunting gap have two peaks, while the expansion rates of exploding Al with the shunting gap have only one peak. The size and shape of the nanoparticles are analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. It is found that almost all the nanoparticles are basically spherical in shape, and the average particle size under different experimental conditions are obtained using SEM. The study of the partial reheating process suggests that the partial reheating process can reduce the average size of the nanoparticles.