A femtosecond (fs) laser has been used as a tool for solving many problems involving access, machining, disassembly, inspection and avoidance of undesirable hazardous waste streams in systems containing energetic materials. Because of the unique properties of the interaction of ultrashort laser pulses with matter, the femtosecond laser can be used to safely cut these energetic materials in a precise manner without creating an unacceptable waste stream. Many types of secondary high explosives (HE) and propellants have been cut with the laser for a variety of applications ranging from disassembly of aging conventional weapons (demilitarization), inspection of energetic components of aging systems to creating unique shapes of HE for purposes of initiation and detonation physics studies. Hundreds of samples of energetic materials have been cut with the fs laser without ignition and, in most cases, without changing the surface morphology of the cut surfaces. The laser has also been useful in cutting nonenergetic components in close proximity to energetic materials.
Femtosecond laser ablation shows promise in machining energetic materials into desired shapes with minimal thermal and mechanical effects to the remaining material. We will discuss the physical effects associated with machining energetic materials and assemblies containing energetic materials, based on experimental results. Interaction of ultra-short laser pulses with matter will produce high temperature plasma at high-pressure which results in the ablation of material. In the case of energetic material, which includes high explosives, propellants and pyrotechnics, this ablation process must be accomplished without coupling energy into the energetic material. Experiments were conducted in order to characterize and better understand the phenomena of femtosecond laser pulse ablation on a variety of explosives and propellants. Experimental data will be presented for laser fluence thresholds, machining rates, cutting depths and surface quality of the cuts.
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