The detonation of carbon-rich high explosives yields solid carbon as a major constituent of the product mixture, and depending on the thermodynamic conditions behind the shock front, a variety of carbon allotropes and morphologies may form and evolve.
Small-angle x-ray scattering is used to observe ultra-fast carbon clustering and graphite and nanodiamond production in the insensitive explosive Plastic Bonded Explosive 9502. "The carbon particle size, shape, composition and their evolution in time helps us understand how explosives deliver energy over a given time frame." - Dana Dattelbaum, of Explosive Science and Shock Physics Division Los Alamos, New Mexico, Nov. 6, 2017-For the first time in the U.S., time-resolved small-angle x-ray scattering (TRSAXS) is used to observe ultra-fast carbon clustering and graphite and nanodiamond production in the insensitive explosive Plastic Bonded Explosive (PBX) 9502, potentially leading to better computer models of explosive performance. "Carbon clusters are produced during the chemical process of detonation in high explosives,” said Dana Dattelbaum, of Explosive Science and Shock Physics Division. "The carbon particle size, shape, composition and their evolution in time helps us understand how explosives deliver energy over a given time frame. The research was published in the online version of the Journal of Physical Chemistry (C) in August. Using TRSAXS at the newly-commissioned Dynamic Compression Sector of the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, researchers from Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories detonated small samples of TATB-based (triamino trinitrobenzene) PBX 9502 while high-brilliance x-rays are scattered by the solid carbon products formed in the detonation.
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