Chemistry of Electrical Wire Explosions in Hydrocarbons

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Abstract
This paper describes the types and extents of high‐temperature reactions that can proceed when metals are electrically exploded into atmospheres of various hydrocarbons. Pyrolyses to other hydrocarbons are readily initiated by the electrical wire explosions, forming both equilibrium and nonequilibrium products to relative extents depending on the reaction energetics and kinetics of the individual hydrocarbon reactants. A surprising aspect of these reactions is the extremely high chemical abstraction of the imparted electrical energy. The principal volatile pyrolysis product is always either acetylene or methane. Thermally labile organometallics and metal hydrides do not form in such explosions. However thermally stable metal carbides form readily during wire explosions in highly endothermic unsaturated hydrocarbons, while the saturated hydrocarbons are more inert.

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