Chemical Imaging of Explosions – Mapping BO2 Light Emission

Abstract

This work describes chemical imaging of BO2 formed during ballistic initiation of 1 : 1 by weight powder‐mixtures of boron (B) and potassium nitrate (KNO3) contained within a polyethylene spherical projectile (25 mm diameter). Initiation was achieved by impact of the gas‐gun‐launched B/KNO3‐filled projectile with an anvil in a windowed, air‐filled chamber. To monitor the subsequent chemical reaction, a two‐camera, optically‐filtered method to map discrete chemical emission from the BO2 molecule was used. This technique distinguishes incandescence of hot particles produced during the event from discrete chemical emission by BO2 near a wavelength of 546 nanometers (nm). The dependence of delay in BO2 chemical emission (that exceeded particle incandescence) with impact velocity was investigated and chemical emission movies which ratio the intensity of discrete to thermal emission are discussed. Emission spectra (300–1000 nm wavelength) were recorded during the impact event, and used to determine a grey‐body temperature of the hot particles during the time when BO2 emission was most intense.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jul 02, 2015
Source ID
10.1002/prep.201500106

Entities

People

  • Anthony Rozanski
  • Kevin L. McNesby
  • Matthew M. Biss
  • Richard A. Benjamin
  • Ronnie A. Thompson

Organizations

  • Defense Threat Reduction Agency
  • Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program
  • United States Army Research Laboratory

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Explosive Engineering.
  • Image Processing and Computer Vision.
  • Spectroscopy.