With a nano-colloid maker device, I want to explode a sodium wire in an Argon environment. The supply voltage might be around 25KV for few microseconds. Might there be any risk of hazard?
There are the generic hazards of handling high voltage, but that's not news. What I don't understand is why you want to use so much voltage. The dissolution of the sodium wire is a matter of joule heating, and that is current rather than voltage driven (I^2*R). Because you want your wire to explode in a few microseconds, you will have to dump in enough energy to vaporize the sodium in that amount of time. Typically this is done by dumping charge from a high voltage capacitor without current limiting, and manipulate the capacitor charging voltage to control the result. Having no idea of the physical spacing, wire resistance, argon pressure, etc. I can't do more than guess, but with levels as high as 25 kV I would worry about cracking the argon gas with or without the wire present whereas you only want the sodium to participate in the energy dump. Also, I note that to handle 25 kV your switch will have to be a hydrogen thyratron. If precision timing is required, they have a bit of triggering jitter. Are you sure you need so much voltage?
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