Optical Recording of the Surface Plasma of Cylindrical Conductors in Strong Magnetic Fields

Results are presented of experiments on the explosion of aluminum and titanium conductors that were carried out on a multipurpose impulse generator (MIG) (current amplitude of 2 MA, current rise time of 100 ns) in magnetic fields up to 3 MG. The conductors consisted of two parts: a rod 3 mm in diameter and a tube with the same outer diameter and wall thickness of 250 μm. The surface plasma of the conductor was recorded with the help of an HSFC Pro high-speed optical camera. It has been shown that instabilities on the surface of material with high conductivity (aluminum) are formed later than on the surface of material with low conductivity (titanium). Instabilities appear on the surface of the tube earlier than on the surface of the rod and remain more pronounced over the course of the entire process for both conductor materials. The growth increments of the large-scale instabilities were determined and the mechanism of their formation was analyzed.