Ultraviolet Laser-induced ignition of RDX single crystal
The RDX single crystals are ignited by ultraviolet laser (355 nm, 6.4 ns) pulses. The laser-induced damage morphology consisted of two distinct regions: a core region of layered fracture and a peripheral region of stripped material surrounding the core. As laser fluence increases, the area of the whole crack region increases all the way, while both the area and depth of the core region increase firstly, and then stay stable over the laser fluence of 12 J/cm2. The experimental details indicate the dynamics during laser ignition process. Plasma fireball of high temperature and pressure occurs firstly, followed by the micro-explosions on the (210) surface, and finally shock waves propagate through the materials to further strip materials outside and yield in-depth cracks in larger surrounding region. The plasma fireball evolves from isotropic to anisotropic under higher laser fluence resulting in the damage expansion only in lateral direction while maintaining the fixed depth. The primary insights into the interaction dynamics between laser and energetic materials can help developing the superior laser ignition technique.
Micro-hot-spot model taking into account the temperature dependence of the laser pulse absorption efficiency factor
An improved model of the laser initiation of the explosive decomposition of energetic materials containing light-absorbing nanoparticles is investigated. The model takes into account how the light absorption efficiency factor changes with an increasing temperature. It is demonstrated that, as the temperature of an aluminum nanoparticle in pentaerythritol tetranitrate increases from 300 to 700 K, the light absorption efficiency factor increases by a factor of over 2. It is also shown that, for each particular nanoparticle radius in the 40–150 nm range, the temperature dependence of the light absorption efficiency factor over the relevant temperature range can be interpolated well by a second-order polynomial. Taking into account the variation of the efficiency of light absorption by the aluminum nanoparticle in the initiation of the explosive decomposition of pentaerythritol tetranitrate by a 12-ns-long neodymium laser pulse reduces the calculated critical energy density by a factor of 2.11 and decreases the optimum nanoparticle radius from 98 to 92 nm.
On the Initiation of High Explosives by Laser Radiation
The problem of laser initiation of high explosives in munitions is considered. In this situation, the laser illuminates a small spot on the casing, and lateral thermal transport affects the initiation temperature. We use a variational method to calculate the critical temperature for explosives' initiation as a function of the laser spot size for common high explosives. The effect of the dwelling time of the irradiation is then evaluated. We demonstrate that in typical situations the critical temperature is determined by the dwelling time rather than by the laser spot size.