Search

Polysulfone was shock loaded to pressures of 14.6–26.2 GPa in a series of gas gun-driven plate-impact experiments measuring material response with embedded electro-magnetic particle velocity gauges and optical velocimetry. The embedded electro-magnetic particle velocity gauges did not show a distinct two-wave structure but did show rounding that suggested a reaction but not a distinct separation of the reactants and product waves. In contrast, the transmission experiments fielded with optical velocimetry, with product pressures ranging from 21.0 to 26.2 GPa, showed well-defined two-wave structures due to shock-driven chemical decomposition of the polymer to products at a higher density. Distinct two-wave structures have not previously been published in literature during polymer compression; here, we observed these two-wave structures at both the polymer/lithium fluoride and polymer/polymethylmethacrylate interfaces. Hydrodynamic simulations of the experiments were performed using a newly constructed SESAME equation of state (EOS) for the polymer, a thermochemical EOS for the decomposition products, and an Arrhenius reaction rate model for the kinetics of the reaction. Simulation results also demonstrated two-wave structures but were unable to quantitatively reproduce either the embedded gauge or optical velocimetry data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time resolved Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) experiments on detonating explosives have been conducted at Argonne National Laboratory's Advanced Photon Source Dynamic Compression Sector. The purpose of the experiments is to measure the SAXS patterns at tens of ns to a few ls behind the detonation front. Corresponding positions behind the detonation front are of order 0.1-10 mm. From the scattering patterns, properties of the explosive products relative to the time behind the detonation front can be inferred. This report describes how the time and distance from the x-ray probe location to the detonation front is calculated, as well as the uncertainties and sources of uncertainty associated with the calculated times and distances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plastic bonded explosive PBX 9501 and its constituents [cyclotetramethylene tetranitramine (HMX) crystals, nitroplasticized Estane ®5703 and a fine-crystallite HMX laden binder mixture] were subjected to a ramped quasi-isentropic compression load using the Z machine at Sandia National Laboratories to determine equation of state and constitutive property data. Various sample thicknesses of these materials were subjected to an identical ramp loading history up to 4.5 GPa over 350 ns and particle velocities were measured using a velocity interferometry technique to assess material response. Upon defining appropriate constitutive relationships for the individual constituents, a topologically disordered model of the composite material was numerically simulated and details of the mesoscale simulation indicate that much of the plastic deformation first occurs locally at the large HMX crystal contacts points and subsequently by the deformation of the interstitial fine-crystallite/binder material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have completed a series of ambient temperature (23±2 °C) shock initiation experiments on four lots (batches) of the insensitive high explosive PBX 9502. PBX 9502 consists by weight of 95% dry-aminated tri-amino-tri-nitro-benzene (TATB) and 5% of the plastic binder Kel-F 800, a 3/1 copolymer of chloro-trifluoro-ethylene and vinylidene-fluoride. Two of the four lots were manufactured using the “virgin” process. Both of these lots had few fine TATB particles. One virgin lot was stored the majority of its life (>15 yr) as a molding powder and pressed as a 240 mm diameter by 130 mm thick cylinder. The other virgin lot was stored the majority of its life as a hollow hemispherical pressing. Two lots were manufactured using the “recycle” process and had many fine TATB particles. One recycled lot was stored the majority of its life as a molding powder, while the other was stored as a pressed charge. Shock initiation experiments were performed using precisely characterized planar shocks generated by impacting an explosive sample with a projectile accelerated in a two-stage gas gun. The evolution of the shock into a detonation was measured using 10 or 11 embedded electromagnetic particle velocity gauges and three “shock tracker” gauges. Results include the following: (1) high quality particle velocity wave forms which should be useful for calibrating reactive burn models, (2) no difference in the sustained shock initiation response between lots regardless of material processing or storage history, (3) responses for all lots equivalent to those measured by Dick et al. [J. Appl. Phys. 63, 4881 (1988)], additional Hugoniot and Pop-plot data for PBX 9502, and (5) the short shock response which, when compared to the sustained shock response, shows no extension in the run distance unless the rarefaction overtakes the shock front prior to the distance it would have run towards a detonation as a sustained shock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes a study on an experimental method of obtaining time resolved Raman spectra in shock wave experiments. Compression mechanisms in quartz; Correlation of spectral and structural changes; Nonlinear elastic relations for uniaxial strain compression of quartz.

Transit through the carbon liquid phase has significant consequences for the subsequent formation of solid nanocarbon detonation products. We report dynamic measurements of liquid carbon condensation and solidification into nano-onions over ∽200 ns by analysis of time-resolved, small-angle X-ray scattering data acquired during detonation of a hydrogen-free explosive, DNTF (3,4-bis(3-nitrofurazan-4-yl)furoxan). Further, thermochemical modeling predicts a direct liquid to solid graphite phase transition for DNTF products ~200 ns post-detonation. Solid detonation products were collected and characterized by high-resolution electron microscopy to confirm the abundance of carbon nano-onions with an average diameter of ∽10 nm, matching the dynamic measurements. We analyze other carbon-rich explosives by similar methods to systematically explore different regions of the carbon phase diagram traversed during detonation. Our results suggest a potential pathway to the efficient production of carbon nano-onions, while offering insight into the phase transformation kinetics of liquid carbon under extreme pressures and temperatures. Detonation of high explosives can produce many nanocarbon allotropes and morphologies, but the mechanism of formation is challenging to explore. Here the authors observe, by time-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering, a transient liquid phase that precedes the formation of carbon onions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]