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The exploding-bridgewire detonator (EBW, also known as exploding wire detonator) is a type of detonator used to initiate the detonation reaction in explosive materials, similar to a blasting cap because it is fired using an electric current. EBWs use a different physical mechanism than blasting caps, using more electricity delivered much more ...
a small amount of a more powerful secondary explosive, directly in contact with the primary, and called "base" or "output" explosive, able to carry out the detonation through the casing of the detonator to the main explosive device to activate it. Explosives commonly used as primary in detonators include lead azide, lead styphnate, tetryl, and ...
(A) Slapper detonator's pellet or flyer impacts a wider area of surface on the explosive output charge, and even though energy is lost to the sides of the area impacted, a cone of explosive is efficiently compressed. (B) EBW detonators only initiate a single point, and energy is lost in all directions, making the energy transfer less efficient.
The exploding-bridgewire detonator at the far left triggers a semi-spherical detonation wave through the high-speed outer explosive. (It is semi-spherical because the exploding-bridgewire acts as a point-detonator.) As the wave is transferred to the precisely shaped inner explosive, a new spherical wave—centered on the object—is formed.
The initiating explosive is called the donor explosive, the initiated one is known as the receptor explosive. In case of a chain detonation, a receptor explosive can become a donor one. The shock sensitivity, also called gap sensitivity, which influences the susceptibility to sympathetic detonations, can be measured by gap tests.
EWM has found its most common use as a detonator, named the exploding-bridgewire detonator, for nuclear bombs. Bridgewire detonators are advantageous over chemical fuzes as the explosion is consistent and occurs only a few microseconds after the current is applied, with variation of only a few tens of nanoseconds from detonator to detonator. [7]
The explosive triggering sequence or the explosive train essentially consists of an 'initiator', an 'intermediary' and the 'high explosive'. For example, a match will not cause plastic explosive to explode, but it will light a fuse coupled with a blasting cap which will detonate a primary explosive that will shock a secondary high explosive and ...
The velocity of detonation is an important indicator for overall energy and power of detonation, and in particular for the brisance or shattering effect of an explosive which is due to the detonation pressure. The pressure can be calculated using Chapman-Jouguet theory from the velocity and density.