An analytical model to predict the shock pressure amplitude in vaporizing foils

Abstract Metal wires or foils can be vaporized when high currents are applied. The generated metal gas or plasma (at higher temperature) will expand very rapidly with high pressure. A shock wave is induced thereafter and then transmits through a polyurethane plate and finally provides the pressure pulse to the sheet metal, which results in a deformation of the sheet. In this work, an analytical model is introduced which describes the shock pressure on the sheet metal. In order to verify the analytical model, measurements of shock pressure pulses with different charging energies and polyurethane plate thicknesses are conducted. It turns out that the results predicted by the analytical model are in good agreement with the experimental data. Hence, the analytical model is successfully established for analyzing the shock pressures induced by vaporizing foils.