Some studies of breakdown in metal azides

Silver azide (AgN
3
) is a crystalline solid, and its room temperature conductivity is ∼3 × 10
⁻⁹
S/cm.
^{1, 2}
When a sufficiently strong electric field is applied via electrically conducting contacts, the current through it increases first slowly and then rapidly until disruption takes place,
³
the whole process taking several minutes. The disruption is in the form of explosive decomposition into nitrogen gas and silver at one or more sites;
⁴
the explosive decomposition then propagates throughout the crystal at a velocity of ∼1 km/s. We have found that for silver-dag-painted electrodes the critical field is ∼3.5 kV/cm. The time to disruption decreases with increasing field.