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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 343 records · Page 19
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

A New Multiphase Equation of State for Composition B

We describe the construction of a complete equation of state for the high explosive Composition B in its unreacted (inert) form, as well as chemical equilibrium calculations of its detonation products. The multiphase reactant EOS is of SESAME type, and was calibrated to ambient thermal and mechanical data, the shock initiation experiments of Dattelbaum, et al., and the melt line of trinitrotoluene (TNT).

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2023

Steady Laminar Flame for 1-Step Thermal Decomposition Model of PBX 9501

We have recently developed a new 1-step thermal decomposition model of PBX 9501 high explosive. In this report, we examine the behavior of the model in 1-D steady laminar flame calculations. In particular, the dependencies of the steady laminar flame velocity on initial pressure, thermal conductivies and parameters of the thermal decomposition model are investigated. The results of our numerical calculations are compared to available experimental data.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2015

Shock-to-detonation transition simulations

Shock-to-detonation transition (SDT) experiments with embedded velocity gauges provide data that can be used for both calibration and validation of high explosive (HE) burn models. Typically, a series of experiments is performed for each HE in which the initial shock pressure is varied. Here we describe a methodology for automating a series of SDT simulations and comparing numerical tracer particle velocities with the experimental gauge data. Illustrative examples are shown for PBX 9502 using the HE models implemented in the xRage ASC code at LANL.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2023

Notes on Davis EOS: Historical Perspective, Derivations & Physical Considerations

Davis reactant and product semi-empirical EOS have been introduced in a series of publications by W. C. Davis. These EOS are convenient to use in conjunction with reactive burn models to parameterize the thermodynamic response of quiescent high explosives (HE) and the mixture of HE decomposition products. There is a history of development of these EOS with different formulae and functional forms found in different papers. The goal of the present notes is to track that history, clarify the physical motivation behind various modifications to Davis EOS over time, and collect all the relevant formulae in one place.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Estimating physics models and quantifying their uncertainty using optimization with a Bayesian objective function

This paper reports a verification study for a method that fits functions to sets of data from several experiments simultaneously. The method finds a maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) estimate of a function subject to constraints (e. g., convexity in the study), uncertainty about the estimate, and a quantitative characterization of how data from each experiment constrains that uncertainty. While the present work focuses on a model of the Equation Of State (EOS) of gasses produced by detonating a high explosive, the method can be applied to a wide range of physics processes with either parametric or semi-parametric models. As a verification exercise, a reference EOS is used and artificial experimental data sets are created using numerical integration of ordinary differential equations and pseudo-random noise. The method yields an estimate of the EOS that is close to the reference, and identifies how each experiment most constrains the result.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

JWL in a Nutshell

The Jones-Wilkins-Lee (JWL) equation of state is an analytical equation of state (EOS) used in the modeling of detonation products of high explosives. The JWL parameters for typical explosives are found in a series of reports by Brigitta Dobratz. The JWL parameters are usually derived from thermochemical codes or experimental cylinder tests using an elaborate and arcane procedure. It is often said that the JWL parameters need to be “self-consistent”, “thermodynamically consistent”, or “consistent with the conservation laws of mass, momentum, and energy.” The purpose of this document is to explain and illuminate what that means. Each parameter in the JWL equation of state is connected to the other parameters. An ideal simulation would produce detonation products at the Chapman-Jouguet state. I begin by describing the form of this equation of state.

Engineering(42)↗
DOE OSTI2014

In-Situ Silver Acetylide Silver Nitrate Explosive Deposition Measurements Using X-Ray Fluorescence.

The Light Initiated High Explosive facility utilized a spray deposited coating of silver acetylide - silver nitrate explosive to impart a mechanical shock into targets of interest. A diagnostic was required to measure the explosive deposition in - situ. An X - ray fluorescence spectrometer was deployed at the facility. A measurement methodology was developed to measure the explosive quantity with sufficient accuracy. Through the use of a tin reference material under the silver based explosive, a field calibration relationship has been developed with a standard deviation of 3.2 % . The effect of the inserted tin material into the experiment configuration has been explored.

Covert, Timothy Todd↗
DOE OSTI2021

Production of desensitized, ultrafine PETN powder

Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) is a widely studied high explosive (HE), most commonly used in detonator applications. In this work, we use a spray drying technique to manufacture a new “nano-powder” morphology of PETN. The spray dried PETN is several orders of magnitude smaller in particle size than traditionally prepared PETN powders. The spray dried PETN has a mostly spherical and smooth morphology, while traditional crystalline PETN typically has sharp edges and crystal facets. Small-scale sensitivity tests including drop-weight impact, friction, and electrostatic discharge (ESD) indicate the spray dried PETN is less sensitive than traditionally used forms of PETN powders. Furthermore, we also observed no changes in chemical properties (melt temperature and onset of decomposition) after spray drying, and the material remains in the tetragonal, crystalline phase.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2026

Extracting the Breakout Distance from the ECOT Trajectories: Gaussian Process Regression Approach

Enhanced Corner Turning (ECOT) experiments provide an important metric of performance of high explosive (HE) formulations. The breakout distance is a single scalar value that characterizes the corner turning efficiency of an HE. Extracting the breakout distance from the raw ECOT results, whether experimental or simulated, is a conceptually straightforward procedure which, however, is non-unique, especially in the presence of noise. More specifically, this procedure involves numerical smoothing and selecting particular values for parameters of this smoothing introduces human bias. In this work, we propose to use the Gaussian process regression to analyze ECOT results. This analysis involves the effective smoothing of the data, thus allowing for accurate extraction of the breakout distance. Most importantly, the parameters of this smoothing can be inferred from the ECOT data itself, rendering the approach effectively parameter-free and thus diminishing the human bias. An additional benefit of the Gaussian process regression, being a statistical inference method, is that not just the value of the breakout distance, but also its confidence interval can be extracted from the data. This report introduces the Gaussian process regression, as applied to ECOT, and demonstrates its usefulness by extracting the breakout distances for a selection of experimental and simulated data.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2015

A high pressure, high temperature study of 1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitro ethylene

We report a synchrotron energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction study of the novel high explosive 1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethylene at high pressures and high temperatures. Pressure was generated using a Paris-Edinburgh cell to employ larger sample volumes. High temperatures were created using a resistive graphite cylinder surrounding the sample. The PT phase diagram was explored in the 3.3 GPa pressure range and in the {approx} 400 C temperature range. We believe that the sample commenced in the {alpha}-phase and then ended up in an amorphous phase when the temperature increased beyond 280 C near 2 GPa, which we believe to be the {gamma}-phase. Further pressure and temperature cycling suggests that the sample transformed reversibly into and out of the amorphous phase near the phase line.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Coefficient of Thermal Expansion Evolution during Ratchet Growth of PBX 9502 and Neat TATB

The Plastic-Bonded Explosive (PBX) 9502 is comprised of the insensitive high explosive TATB (triamino trinitrobenzine) crystals coated in FK-800 polymer binder and isostatically pressed. The TATB crystals have a graphitic, plate-like morphology and possess significant thermal and mechanical anisotropy. Compactions of neat TATB or TATB-based composites (like PBX 9502) have been shown to have TATB crystals that are oriented during the pressing process giving rise to TATB texture and resulting in micro- and macro-scale anisotropy of the compaction. Thermal cycling of the compactions results in irreversible volume expansion (or ratchet growth) likely by creating stress points on the microscale. However, the actual mechanism behind this expansion is not fully understood. Previous characterization of the ratchet growth phenomenon has focused on the magnitude of the irreversible strain as measured before and after a thermal cycle. In the work presented here, we analyze the evolving thermal expansion behavior during the ascending and descending temperature ramps and compare differences observed due to the presence/absence of binder in the compaction.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2023

The reactive flow evolution of the polymer-bonded explosive PBX 9502: Experiments and model validation in extreme pressure regimes

The shock-to-detonation transition properties of the triaminotrinitrobenzene based PBX 9502 high explosive (HE) are experimentally and computationally explored in extremely high input pressure conditions. These include both slightly sub-Chapman–Jouguet and overdriven input pressure conditions, namely, ∼25 and ∼31 GPa, respectively. Our experiments capture the transient buildup of a shock-induced reaction via measurement of HE and polymethyl methacrylate window interface particle velocity profiles for a variety of sample thicknesses for this insensitive HE. These observations necessitate extremely thin explosive samples, and the high rates of reaction provide a considerable challenge to optical diagnostics. Samples at these thicknesses also provide an opportunity for evaluation of potential micro-structure effects on the resulting shock-to-detonation-transition measurements. To address this, the thin samples are also characterized via x-ray micro-computed tomography. Finally, a pair of previously established continuum-level detonation performance modeling approaches for PBX 9502 were used to analyze the experiments. The employed model variants crucially differ in their definition of each model’s empirical reaction rate functional form, utilization of shock state quantities, and local flow variable dependencies. As a result, the present experiments provide a novel platform to evaluate the quantitative and qualitative consequences stemming from these modeling choices in a challenging initiation scenario, largely beyond the chosen calibration range of either model. This new experimental information will provide a platform for both improved physics and model parameterizations for this well-studied explosive.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Optimizing Code Calibration of the JWL Explosive Equation-of-State to the Cylinder Test

Recent analysis of high explosives using the cylinder test has resulted in an increased understanding of the experimental uncertainty for the cylinder test. To fit the Jones-Wilkins-Lee equation-of-state model to less than experimental uncertainty, an optimization process is developed in this paper. This process, when applied to a large range of explosives, seems to show that the exponent R 1 increases with increasing energy density and is grouped based on ideality. Finally, the optimal parameters are shown to increase the accuracy of an analytic equation-of-state tool.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2023

Novel method to control explosive shock sensitivity: Formulations, experiments and modeling

The microstructure of a heterogeneous high explosive (HE) affects its shock initiation sensitivity and detonation performance. Alteration of the void content and/or void structure (i.e., bulk heating or mechanical damage) therefore changes the shock initiation behavior. Controlling and predicting the change in shock sensitivity after an HE has undergone microstructural changes addresses an important and challenging goal for the design and understanding of novel energetic material formulations. In this study, we aimed to develop HE systems to precisely tune shock sensitivity by a thermal treatment prior to use. Specifically, we incorporated a small fraction (1 wt% or less) of thermally expandable microspheres (TEMs) during the formulation process of various plastic-bonded explosives (PBX). TEMs typically consist of a thermoplastic acrylonitrile shell (10-50 µm diameter), which encapsulates an inert low boiling hydrocarbon. Upon heating, the TEMs expand as the shell softens while the hydrocarbon gasifies, increasing the internal pressure and expanding the particle by as much as 120 vol% (irreversibly). Here, we present our progress on shock sensitivity comparisons of HE formulations doped with TEMs after heating and expansion. Experiments, using Composition C-4 thermally cycled to 120°C, showed an increase in shock sensitivity. Additionally, mesoscale modeling revealed that the TEM itself does not act as a hotspot, but instead has a secondary effect on the response of nearby voids. We conclude that TEMs indeed do provide a method to tune shock sensitivity. Further, our results emphasize the non-uniformity of shock waves at the mesoscale, and that upstream defects influence the reactivity of downstream defects.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2018

Integrated rheology model: Explosive Composition B-3

Composition B-3 (Comp B-3) is a high explosive formulation composed of 60/40wt% RDX (1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine) /TNT (2,4,6 trinitrotoluene). Above approximately 78°C this formulation partially melts to form a multiphase system with solid RDX particles in a molten TNT matrix. This multiphase system presents a number of phenomena that influence its apparent viscosity. In an earlier study explosive Composition B-3 (Comp B-3, 60/40wt% RDX/TNT) was examined for evidence of yield stress using a non-isothermal falling ball viscometer and a yield stress model was proposed in this paper. An integrated viscosity model suitable for use in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations is developed to capture the transition from a heterogeneous solid to a Bingham viscoplastic fluid. This viscosity model is used to simulate the motion of imbedded spheres falling through molten Comp B-3. Finally, comparison of the simulations to physical tests show agreement between the positions predicted by the model and the measured locations of the spheres as a function of temperature between 90C and 165C.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Explosive fragmentation of additively manufactured stainless steel

Properties of fragmentation from an explosively driven 316L stainless steel spherical shell section fabricated by a laser powder bed additive manufacturing process with minimal surface finishing are investigated. This shell is driven by an insensitive high explosive, resulting in high strain rate deformation (>8 × 10 3 s –1 ) and failure of the stainless steel. Photonic Doppler velocimetry measures the expansion rate; dynamic radiography and high-speed imaging capture the fracture behavior of the stainless steel. The fracture response of the additively manufactured stainless steel shell is compared to published experimental results on additively manufactured 316L stainless steel and conventionally manufactured wrought 316L and 304 stainless steel shell fragmentation. Despite preferred crack orientation, suggesting the influence of surface grooves on fracture time, fragment size is identical to that measured in a similar experiment on wrought 304 stainless steel. Further analysis indicates that the 316L additively manufactured stainless steel shell exhibits comparable spall strength and fragmentation toughness to conventionally manufactured stainless steel yet lower failure strain due to surface stress concentrations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗