Initial Steps in the Decomposition of Energetic Materials: Pathways Involving Their Excited Electronic States
Abstract
The study of dissociation pathways, mechanism, and products for the energetic materials RDX C3H6N3(NO2)3 and ADN NH4N(NO2)2 in excited electronic valence and Rydberg states is undertaken. These spectroscopic and dissociation studies will be carried out on gas phase species that have been cooled and isolated in a supersonic expansion. A number of recent advances in experimental and theoretical techniques and capabilities have been incorporated into our laboratory so that these studies become feasible. The experiments are carried out on laser ablated materials that are cooled in a supersonic expansion and accessed with tunable photolysis lasers. Time-of-flight mass spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy are employed to analyze the fragments. Covariance mapping of spectral data will aid in identifying the fragmentation pathways. Experiments will be supported by a theoretical effort of ab initio quantum chemistry calculations. These studies are important to the functioning of energetic materials in real applications because the ignition process can create excited electronic states of RDX and ADN and each state can have a different decomposition mechanism and set of products (e.g., CH2NNO2, CO2, NO, NO2, OH, etc.). System and material performance, as fuels and explosives, can be adjusted and tuned to maximize overall effectiveness and efficiency if RDX and ADN decomposition chemistry can be elucidated and understood as a function of electronic state.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA407527
Entities
People
- Elliot R. Bernstein
Organizations
- Colorado State University