Shock Ignition And Deflagration Growth In Plastic-bonded TATB (1, 3, 5-Trinitro-2, 4, 6-Triaminobenzene) Microstructures

Abstract

TATB (1,3,5-Triamino-2,4,6-Trinitrobenzene) plastic-bonded explosives (PBX) were shocked with laser-launched flyer plates. The spectral radiance of the emitted light from a small portion of the microstructure (a "microenvironment") containing a small number of TATB particles with an estimated mass of 150 ng was measured every 0.8 ns from 1 ns to 200 μs and was analyzed to give radiance and time-dependent graybody temperatures. By fabricating an array with 186 PBX charges, we could obtain ≥15 shots at each of 12 velocities between 1.8 and 4.7 km/s. We found that every microenvironment generated a unique radiance fingerprint. Some of these microenvironments were much more reactive than average. The radiance has two peaks around 20 ns and 5 μs, associated with shock ignition and deflagration growth. In our interpretation, the shock creates an ensemble of hot spots of various sizes and temperatures. Of those hot spots that ignite, only a small portion, at about 2200 K, was large enough and hot enough to survive long enough (>100 ns) to ignite individual TATB particles, leading to deflagration. Integrating various time intervals of the radiance can quantify the strength of the shock-PBX interaction, and the decay and growth of the hot spot ensemble and the deflagration.

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Comments

Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Grant FA9550-19-1-0027

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0003-6951

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2026 AIP Publishing, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

08 Aug 2022

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