A bridgewire or bridge wire, also known as a hot bridge wire (HBW), is a relatively thin resistance wire used to set off a

pyrotechnic composition A pyrotechnic composition is a substance or mixture of substances designed to produce an effect by heat, light, sound, gas/smoke or a combination of these, as a result of non-detonative self-sustaining exothermic reaction, exothermic chemical reac ...

serving as pyrotechnic initiator. By passing of

electric current An electric current is a flow of charged particles, such as electrons or ions, moving through an electrical conductor or space. It is defined as the net rate of flow of electric charge through a surface. The moving particles are called charge c ...

it is heated to a high temperature that starts the

exothermic In thermodynamics, an exothermic process () is a thermodynamic process or reaction that releases energy from the system to its surroundings, usually in the form of heat, but also in a form of light (e.g. a spark, flame, or flash), electricity (e ...

chemical reaction A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the chemistry, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. When chemical reactions occur, the atoms are rearranged and the reaction is accompanied by an Gibbs free energy, ...

of the attached composition. After successful firing, the bridgewire melts, resulting in an open circuit. Usually a thin

nichrome Nichrome (also known as NiCr, nickel-chromium or chromium-nickel) is a family of alloys of nickel and chromium (and occasionally iron) commonly used as resistance wire, heating elements in devices like toasters, electrical kettles and space he ...

wire is used. Some applications also use

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

alloy; other bridgewire materials in use are

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

tungsten Tungsten (also called wolfram) is a chemical element; it has symbol W and atomic number 74. It is a metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively in compounds with other elements. It was identified as a distinct element in 1781 and first ...

, etc. Care has to be taken when selecting the material as it is in direct contact with the pyrotechnic composition and should not undergo corrosion in such conditions. Another material, able to actively release chemical energy, is Pyrofuze,

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

wire clad with

palladium Palladium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1802 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas (formally 2 Pallas), ...

; when being heated it undergoes strongly exothermic reaction as the molten metals form an alloy. A variant with the same function consists of laminated thin alternate layers of aluminium and

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

. Carbon bridge is a thin spot of

colloid A colloid is a mixture in which one substance consisting of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. Some definitions specify that the particles must be dispersed in a liquid, while others exte ...

graphite Graphite () is a Crystallinity, crystalline allotrope (form) of the element carbon. It consists of many stacked Layered materials, layers of graphene, typically in excess of hundreds of layers. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable ...

used as the bridgewire. Some variants use a conductive pyrotechnic composition as the resistive material. In amateur rocketry, grossly overloaded low wattage metal film

resistor A resistor is a passive two-terminal electronic component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element. In electronic circuits, resistors are used to reduce current flow, adjust signal levels, to divide voltages, bias active e ...

s and 0805

Surface-mount technology Surface-mount technology (SMT), originally called planar mounting, is a method in which the electrical components are mounted directly onto the surface of a printed circuit board (PCB). An electrical component mounted in this manner is referred ...

resistors are also used. A shallow notch cut into the center of the bridgewire promotes gross localized overheating instead of homogeneous heating of the entire bridgewire. This may improve the bridgewire performance in some applications. Bridgewires are used in diverse applications; to trigger

detonator A detonator is a device used to make an explosive or explosive device explode. Detonators come in a variety of types, depending on how they are initiated (chemically, mechanically, or electrically) and details of their inner working, which of ...

electric match An electric match is a device that uses an externally applied electric current to ignite a combustible compound. Electric matches use a bridgewire consisting of a heating element to ignite a pyrogen, which is a quantity of readily ignited pyrotec ...

es, squibs, electric

blasting cap A detonator is a device used to make an explosive or explosive device explode. Detonators come in a variety of types, depending on how they are initiated (chemically, mechanically, or electrically) and details of their inner working, which of ...

pyrotechnic fastener A pyrotechnic fastener (also called an explosive bolt, or pyro, within context) is a fastener, usually a nut or bolt, that incorporates a pyrotechnic charge that can be initiated remotely. One or more explosive charges embedded within the bolt ar ...

s, and more. Bridgewires dipped in a suitable pyrotechnic composition ( pyrogen) are known as

es. Pyrogens with content of

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 ...

allow reaching very high combustion temperatures. Devices using bridgewires, whether for initiating an explosion ("electroexplosive") or for nonexplosive purposes, are called bridge wire actuated devices (BWAD). Bridgewires, especially connected to longer cables, may be susceptible to initiation by currents induced by external

electromagnetic field An electromagnetic field (also EM field) is a physical field, varying in space and time, that represents the electric and magnetic influences generated by and acting upon electric charges. The field at any point in space and time can be regarde ...

s. By passing an extremely high amount of electric current through the bridgewire, it gets rapidly vaporized, causing a small

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume of a given amount of matter associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Explosions may also be generated ...

. This is exploited in exploding-bridgewire detonators (EBWs), used for very safe and highly precise initiation of explosives, e.g. in

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...

Notes

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External links

Bridgewire heating
Pyrotechnic initiators Fire making