Magnetic Properties of Iron-Based Amorphous Metal Wires

It has been studied how the conditions of machining and the elastic tensile stresses affect the magnetic properties of amorphous metal wires of composition Fe₇₅Si₁₀B₁₅ produced by drawing from a melt. The magnetic characteristics of wires subjected to both thermal treatment and treatment with a continuous electric current of different magnitude have been investigated. The residual induction of wires is their magnetic parameter most sensitive to the conditions of treatment. The dependences of the residual induction on temperature and on the magnitude of the treating electric current are qualitatively similar. The greatest changes in residual induction are observed in the range of treating electric currents from 0.5 to 0.8 A, which can be associated with the processes of structural relaxation and crystallization occurring in the wires. The run of the dependence of the residual induction on the magnitude of tensile stresses is nonmonotonic in character and is determined by the level of internal hardening stresses of the test wires.     

A new solution to the problem of an acoustically transparent body

The method of active impedance matching is applied to the well-known problem of an acoustically transparent body. Two laws of active force control, by velocity and by pressure, are obtained for solving the problem.     

Dispersion of waves in a plane acoustic layer with flexible elastic walls

A plane acoustic layer bounded by elastic membranes is considered. Dispersion relations for symmetric and antisymmetric waves are derived. The limit behavior of dispersion curves is investigated for wave numbers tending to zero and to infinity. With the use of the resulting asymptotic expansions, the two-point Pade approximations are constructed. The orthogonality relations for eigenmodes are presented.     

Characteristics of high-power radiating imploding discharge with cold start

A qualitative model of the dynamics of a multiterawatt radiating Z-pinch with cold start and high rate of current rise is proposed. The model is used to analyze discharges with currents I ～ 2–5 MA (with dI/dt > 10¹³ A/s) through uniform or structured plasma-producing loads, including wire arrays. The most important consequence of cold start is that spatially nonuniform plasma production is prolonged to almost the entire current rise time. Under these conditions, the Ampére force begins to play a dominant role in the plasma dynamics before the plasma-producing load is completely transformed into an accelerated plasma. The results of computations of wire-array vaporization are presented. A formula is proposed for estimating the highest attainable velocity of plasma flow into a heterogeneous liner driven by the Ampére force. It is shown that local imbalance between radial motion of the produced plasma and supply of the plasma-producing substance to be ionized leads to axially nonuniform breakthrough of magnetic flux into the liner, which precedes plasma collapse. The magnetic-flux breakthrough gives rise to a chaotic azimuthal-axial plasma structure consisting of radial plasma jets of relatively small diameter, which is called a radial plasma rainstorm. The breaking-through azimuthal magnetic flux obstructs further current flow in the breakthrough region. Analyses of Z-pinch implosion based on the theory of Rayleigh-Taylor instability or the snowplow model are incorrect under the plasma-rainstorm conditions. The processes taking place in a stagnant Z-pinch include conversion of the energy carried by the current-generated magnetic field into turbulent MHD flow of the ion component of the plasma, its convective mixing with magnetic field, heating, energy transfer from ions to electrons, and emission from the plasma. Under typical experimental conditions, emission plays a key role in the energy balance in an imploding pinch. Z-pinch is modeled by an electric-circuit component that has a time-dependent nonlinear impedance and consumes the magnetic energy supplied by a generator through a magnetically insulated transmission line (MITL). The peak power reached in the circuit is comparable to the peak soft X-ray power output emitted by the pinch in terms of magnitude and timing. Optimum matching conditions are formulated for the generator-MITL-pinch circuit.