Prediction of the Impact Sensitivity of Energetic Molecules Using Symmetry Adapted Perturbation Theory

Abstract

The intermolecular interaction energies of 1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethylene (Fox-7), hexanitrobenzene (HNB), 2,4,6- trinitrotoluene (TNT), 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene (TNB), 2,4,6-trinitroaniline (TNA), 1,3-diamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (DATB), and 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) have been computed using symmetry adapted perturbation theory. Using the experimental unit cells, energies of all symmetry unique dimers within the cells were determined and a simple correlation of the largest dimer interaction energy for each energetic with experimentally measured impact sensitivities was established. It was found that this approach properly predicted the experimental trend when the energetics were grouped into compounds of similar chemistry. Specifically, the method correctly predicts the experimental trend for the nitroaromatics (HNB-TNB-TNT) amongst themselves and the nitroanilines (TNA-DATB-TATB) amongst themselves. Based on these results, symmetry adapted perturbation theory appears to be a useful tool for the determination of impact sensitivities with no regard to experimental data other than the chemical class and orientation of the monomers in the unit cell.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA550736

Entities

People

  • Decarlos E. Taylor

Organizations

  • United States Army Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Chemistry
  • Crystal Structure
  • Density Functional Theory
  • Energetic Materials
  • Experimental Data
  • Explosives
  • Insensitive Explosives
  • Materials
  • Materials Science
  • Military Research
  • Molecules
  • Perturbation Theory
  • Perturbations
  • Quantum Chemistry
  • Sensitivity
  • Symmetry
  • Tnt

Fields of Study

  • Chemistry

Readers

  • Agricultural Chemistry/Soil Science
  • Quantum Chemistry
  • Systems Analysis and Design