Investigating growth to detonation in vapor-deposited hexanitrostilbene and pentaerythritol tetranitrate films using high-throughput methods

Abstract

A high-throughput experimental setup was used to characterize initiation threshold and growth to detonation in the explosives hexanitrostilbene (HNS) and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). The experiment sequentially launched an array of laser-driven flyers to shock samples arranged in a 96-well microplate geometry, with photonic Doppler velocimetry diagnostics to characterize flyer velocity and particle velocity at the explosive–substrate interface. Vapor-deposited films of HNS and PETN were used to provide numerous samples with various thicknesses, enabling characterization of the evolution of growth to detonation. One-dimensional hydrocode simulations were performed with reactions disabled to illustrate where the experimental data deviate from the predicted inert response. Prompt initiation was observed in 144 μm thick HNS films at flyer velocities near 3000 m/s and in 125 μm thick PETN films at flyer velocities near 2400 m/s. This experimental setup enables rapid quantification of the growth of reactions in explosive materials that can reach detonation at sub-millimeter length scales. These data can subsequently be used for parameterizing reactive burn models in hydrocode simulations, as discussed in Paper II [D. E. Kittell, R. Knepper, and A. S. Tappan, J. Appl. Phys. 131, 154902 (2022)].

Pressure‐assisted binder jetting for additive manufacturing of mock energetic composites

“…Additive manufacturing techniques, including stereolithography, direct ink writing, and fused deposition modeling [6][7][8][9] present new possibilities for EM manufacturing [7,[10][11][12][13]. The ability to control geometric features and grain gradients allows for customization of run distance, shock propagation, and shockto-detonation transition rates [14], enabling unique detonation and other energetic performance effects [15][16][17][18].…”