Bridgewire Welding

Bridgewire Welding

Bridgewire welding is comprised of microscopically spot welding or bonding or even soldering various alloys of resistance wire to two, three or more electrical contacts (pins) across an insulative glass, ceramic or plastic gap to create a hot wire circuit. When the proper electrical energy is applied to the circuit, the wire heats up to a temperature sufficient to ignite an explosive material in intimate contact with it.

The resistance wires typically range in size from .00013” to .0025” diameter and material selections involve nichrome, tungsten, stainless steel and platinum alloys just to name a few. Usually the customer supplies a part such as a glass to metal seal plug and specifies the wire size and material but Stored Energy Concepts, Inc. can be contracted to design the bridge system from specifications defining the number and type of contacts, size, material to ignite desired resistance range in ohms and available electrical energy for firing.