Initiation of Energetic Solids: The First Nanosecond

Abstract

The goal is to understand what occurs at the molecular level during shock initiation of energetic materials. We have developed the nanoshock technique, which lets us shock any solid material and study its molecules using ultrafast vibrational spectroscopy with 25 ps time resolution. Test experiments were conducted with anthracene to verify the performance of this technique, which was subsequently extended to energetic materials including RDX and NTO. A related theoretical effort looked at orientation effects in initiation. A related project is understanding the role of molecular vibrational energy transfer processes in initiation. Since we know little about energy transfer, we are concentrating on simple model systems under non shock conditions. We have used a new experimental apparatus which uses a infrared-Raman technique with 1 ps resolution to study nitromethane and other simpler liquids. A minor effort relates to technology transfer from our ARO-funded shock wave program to industry. in particular we have used ultrafast microscopy and shock wave generation techniques to improve laser photothermal imaging processes used in graphic arts by incorporating energetic materials into the imaging media.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 31, 1999
Accession Number
ADA365126

Entities

People

  • Dana D. Dlott

Organizations

  • University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Chemistry
  • Crystal Lattices
  • Crystals
  • Energetic Materials
  • Energy
  • Energy Transfer
  • Films
  • Graphic Arts
  • Materials
  • Materials Science
  • Molecules
  • Nitromethane
  • Physical Chemistry
  • Shock Waves
  • Spectroscopy
  • Technology Transfer
  • Waves

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Combustion Dynamics and Shock Wave Physics.
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Rocket Propulsion.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy