Structural characteristics of copper nanoparticles produced by the electric explosion of wires with different structures of metal grains

•Increasing the grain size of the metal wire does not increase nanoparticle size.•The grain structure of the copper nanoparticles is close to the single crystal structure.•The relief surface of the wire affects the time of energy input to the wire.

This work studies the impact of the size of grains/crystallites on the structural characteristics of the nanoparticles formed as a result of the electric explosion of wires. The temporal dependencies of the current and voltage in the conditions of EEW experiments were analyzed. It was concluded that an increase in the grain/crystallite size does not result in a significant change in the electric resistance of the wires that are in solid state. It was demonstrated that an increase in the grain/crystallite size does not result in an increase in the average nanoparticle size. The structure of the nanoparticles with the size between 80 and 110 nm is close to a monocrystalline one. This data allows for making an assertion that certain models suggested in research papers to explain non-equilibrium phase transitions cannot be applied when describing the electric explosion of wires.