In combustion research, nitromethane is an important nitro-compounded liquid propellant offering high performance. Additionally it can be used as a model substance for understanding mechanisms of combustion of solid propellants. The objectives of investigations were the burning behaviour and the¯ame spectrum in the UVaVIS spectral range because of the appearance of strong radical emissions also present in¯ames of other energetic materials. The evaluation is based on a detailed chemical kinetics and a linear combustion model including a reduced mechanism.

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Nitromethane (CH3NO2) Pool Fire Flames have been investigated analysing both, the radiation emitted from intermediate combustion radicals (diatomic molecules) in the ultraviolet (UV) and visible (VIS) spectral range, and the near infrared spectra dominated by broad water bands. Comparing the UV/VIS spectra to calculated band profiles, rotational and vibrational temperatures (Trot, Tvib) of OH, NH and CN have been determined. At local thermal equilibrium Trot and Tvib must be equal. The determined temperatures show that the OH and NH emissions originate from pure thermal excitation (Trot = Tvib = 2300 K–2380 K) but the CN emissions show additionally a chemical excitation indicated by different vibrational and rotational temperatures in the Boltzman factor (Trot = 2100 K, Tvib = 4300 K). For a more detailed study of the flame, the emission of OH radicals has been investigated more extensively by monitoring a two‐dimensional rotational temperature and emissivity profile. In cooler flame regions, the observed spectra are dominated by the near infrared radiation emitted from stable combustion products like water and carbon dioxide. Therefore, NIR spectra (1000 nm to 2500 nm) have been compared to broad band profiles calculated with a self‐developed code basing on the data of the ‘Handbook of Infrared Radiation of Combustion Gases’. The flame temperatures obtained by this method range from 1800 K to 1900 K. The results are correlated to flames of methane and nitrogen oxide which emit similar spectra indicating similar reaction mechanisms in the gaseous phase.