A severe limitation in the use of the exploding wire phenomenon for chemical synthesis has been the relatively small amount of product that can be prepared by single metal explosions. This problem has been overcome by development of a successive multiple explosion technique in which a large number of wire explosions can be effected in rapid fire order, without breaking the initial vacuum seal. Preset wires are contained in a cylinder which is rotated stepwise over an orifice, thereby dropping the wires into a lower chamber where contact is made with stationary electrodes, across which a high potential has been imposed. This technique is shown to be at least as effective as the single explosion technique in the preparation of compounds that are relatively free of unreacted metal. It was also found that this technique can be used for the preparation of specific particle sizes. The particle size of product powders was found to be quite dependent upon the magnitude of the applied voltage. In general, particle size decreases with increased voltage.