Thermal and ignition type steam explosions of single drops of molten aluminum

Seventeen steam explosion experiments were performed with 2 to 10 g drops of molten, high-purity Al. Seven were successfully initiated with underwater exploding bridgewires. At melt release temperatures up to 1400{degrees}C (1673 K) only moderate thermal-type explosions occurred that produced bubbles with volumes up to approximately 1 L. Bubble growth intensified in the melt temperature range 1400-1525{degrees}C (1673--1798 K) as threshold ignition of Al set in. In this range, one of the explosions emitted a flash of light and generated a bubble that grew very rapidly to approximately 14 L, broke through the water surface, and destroyed the test chamber. We attribute the behavior of this latter bubble, which grew as fast as one produced by the underwater firing of a 0.6 g explosive detonator, to an ignition-type steam explosion. Aluminum oxides could not be detected visually in the debris recovered from either typical thermal-type or the ignition-type explosions, and only traces could be detected by X-ray diffraction. In the ignition-type explosion, it is possible however that some oxidic material, probably the smaller particles, was lost during the flooding that occurred as the chamber failed. Both bubble analyses and the absence of appreciable oxide in the debris suggest that the ignition-type steam explosion was not very efficient, probably involving the combustion of only a small fraction of the original molten aluminum globule.