Exploding-bridgewire detonator

The EBW was invented by Luis Alvarez and Lawrence Johnston for the Fat Man–type bombs of the Manhattan Project, during their work in Los Alamos National Laboratory. The Fat Man Model 1773 EBW detonators used an unusual, high reliability detonator system with two EBW "horns" attached to a single booster charge, which then fired each of the 32 explosive lens units. == Description ==

EBWs were developed as a means of detonating multiple explosive charges simultaneously, mainly for use in plutonium-based nuclear weapons in which a plutonium core (called a pit) is compressed very rapidly. This is achieved via conventional explosives placed uniformly around the pit. The implosion must be highly symmetrical or the plutonium would simply be ejected at the low-pressure points. Consequently, the detonators must have very precise timing. safety conscious applications where stray electrical currents might detonate normal blasting caps, and applications requiring very precise timing for multiple point commercial blasting in mines or quarries.{{cite web |url=http://www.teledynerisi.com/products/0products_1ebw_page10.asp |title=Teledyne RISI - Selecting the Right EBW Detonator == Mechanism of operation ==

The bridgewire is usually made of gold, but platinum or gold/platinum alloys can also be used. The most common commercial wire size is 0.038 mm (1.5 mils) in diameter and 1 mm (40 mils) in length, but lengths ranging from 0.25 mm to 2.5 mm (10 mils to 100 mils) can be encountered. From the available explosives, only PETN at low densities can be initiated by sufficiently low shock to make its use practical in commercial systems as a part of the EBW initiator. It can be chained with another explosive booster, often a pellet of tetryl, RDX or some PBX (e.g., PBX 9407). Detonators without such booster are called initial pressing detonators (IP detonators). During initiation, the wire heats with the passing current until melting point is reached. The heating rate is high enough that the liquid metal has no time to flow away, and heats further until it vaporizes. During this phase the electrical resistance of the bridgewire assembly rises. Then an electric arc forms in the metal vapor, leading to drop of electrical resistance and sharp growth of the current, quick further heating of the ionized metal vapor, and formation of a shock wave. To achieve the melting and subsequent vaporizing of the wire in time sufficiently short to create a shock wave, a current rise rate of at least 100 amperes per microsecond is required. If the current rise rate is lower, the bridge may burn, perhaps causing deflagration of the PETN pellet, but it will not cause detonation. PETN-containing EBWs are also relatively insensitive to a static electricity discharge. Their use is limited by the thermal stability range of PETN. Slapper detonators, which can use high density hexanitrostilbene, may used in temperatures up to almost in environments ranging from vacuum to high pressures. ==Firing system==

The EBW and the slapper detonator are the safest known types of detonators, as only a very high-current fast-rise pulse can successfully trigger them. However, they require a bulky power source for the current surges required. The extremely short rise times are usually achieved by discharging a low-inductance, high-capacitance, high-voltage capacitor (e.g., oil-filled, Mylar-foil, or ceramic) through a suitable switch (spark gap, thyratron, krytron, etc.) into the bridge wire. A very rough approximation for the capacitor is a rating of 5 kilovolts and 1 microfarad, and the peak current ranges between 500 and 1000 amperes. The high voltage may be generated using a Marx generator. Low-impedance capacitors and low-impedance coaxial cables are required to achieve the necessary current rise rate. The flux compression generator is one alternative to capacitors. When fired, it creates a strong electromagnetic pulse, which is inductively coupled into one or more secondary coils connected to the bridge wires or slapper foils. A low energy density capacitor equivalent to a compression generator would be roughly the size of a soda can. The energy in such a capacitor would be ·C·V, which for the above-mentioned capacitor is 12.5 J. (By comparison, a defibrillator delivers ~200 J from 2 kV and perhaps 20 μF.{{Cite web In a fission bomb, the same or similar circuit is used for powering the neutron generator, the initial source of fission neutrons. == See also ==