Response of electroexplosive devices to impulsive waveforms.

The firing characteristics of insensitive electroexplosive devices to certain impulsive waveforms have been investigated. For these waveforms, energy is delivered in a time short compared to the thermal time constant and therefore cooling plays a negligible role. One waveform is a terminated capacitor discharge wherein the regular discharge of a capacitor is terminated at a preset point. Another is a half-sine wave pulse. The theory, design, and application of both impulsive waveform generators are presented together with certain limited experimental observations.