Disruption of Shaped-Charge Jets by a Current

In our previous experiments on disruption of metal shaped-charge jets by a capacitor-bank current, we attained almost complete disruption of the entire jet. In those experiments, the distance between the shaped charge and the current electrodes was approximately equal to the diameter of the shaped-charge cavity. Physically, jet disruption by a high current consisted of initial development of MHD instability of the jet in the form of growth of necks and subsequent electric explosion of the necks. The present paper describes similar experiments in which the distance between the shaped charge and electrodes was increased. It is shown that this can worsen results of jet disruption because the change in the initial state of the jet changes the physical picture of the process of jet disruption by a current. Key words: shaped-charge effect, shaped-charge jet, capacitor bank, MHD instability, electric explosion of a conductor, electric-current pulse.