Laser driven flyers for investigations of shock initiation of explosives

Will P. Bassett, Belinda P. Johnson, Dana D. Dlott

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

A full description and characterization of a tabletop laser-launched flyer plate system with associated high-speed diagnostics is presented. With this tabletop system, we can investigate shock initiation and detonation of energetic materials with hundreds of shots per day. The present study focuses on application of the 32-channel pyrometer developed in our group for optical temperature measurements of hot spots in shock-initiated energetic materials. Extremely high temperature (>6000 K) hot spots have been observed in fine powders of octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX), and the shock duration dependence on chemical kinetics has been studied. Polymer bound (PBX) charges with controllable microstructure were used to identify the origins of high temperature hot spots. Hot spot temperatures were reduced to 4000 K when an elastomeric binder was used to fill void spaces between powder grains. We attribute these high temperatures to adiabatic compression of gases in microvoids (>6000K) and in nanovoids (4000K), based on measurements where the gas composition and void sizes were varied.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationShock Compression of Condensed Matter - 2017
Subtitle of host publicationProceedings of the Conference of the American Physical Society Topical Group on Shock Compression of Condensed Matter
EditorsMarcus D. Knudson, Eric N. Brown, Ricky Chau, Timothy C. Germann, J. Matthew D. Lane, Jon H. Eggert
PublisherAmerican Institute of Physics Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9780735416932
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 3 2018
Event20th Biennial American Physical Society Conference on Shock Compression of Condensed Matter, SCCM 2017 - St. Louis, United States
Duration: Jul 9 2017Jul 14 2017

Publication series

NameAIP Conference Proceedings
Volume1979
ISSN (Print)0094-243X
ISSN (Electronic)1551-7616

Other

Other20th Biennial American Physical Society Conference on Shock Compression of Condensed Matter, SCCM 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySt. Louis
Period7/9/177/14/17

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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