Transition of liquid metals into vapor in the process of pulse heating by current

The peculiarities of a liquid metal's nonequilibrium phase transition into vapor in the process of heating metallic wire samples by current impulse at the rate of 108 to 1010 K · s-1 are examined. A review of works by the article's author about a liquid metal's superheating up to the vicinity of the spinodal and explosive boiling under these conditions is given. In addition, the possibility of getting beyond the spinodal, realization of the unstable phase and its spinodal decay under the rate of heating of more than 1011 K · s-1 is analyzed. © 1993 Plenum Publishing Corporation.