Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Modeling physical vapor deposition of energetic materials

Journal Article · · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.5022805· OSTI ID:1441479
 [1];  [2]
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
  2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Morphology and microstructure of organic explosive films formed using physical vapor deposition (PVD) processes strongly depends on local surface temperature during deposition. Currently, there is no accurate means of quantifying the local surface temperature during PVD processes in the deposition chambers. This study focuses on using a multiphysics computational fluid dynamics tool, STARCCM+, to simulate pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) deposition. The PETN vapor and solid phase were simulated using the volume of fluid method and its deposition in the vacuum chamber on spinning silicon wafers was modeled. The model also included the spinning copper cooling block where the wafers are placed along with the chiller operating with forced convection refrigerant. Implicit time-dependent simulations in two- and three-dimensional were performed to derive insights in the governing physics for PETN thin film formation. PETN is deposited at the rate of 14 nm/s at 142.9 °C on a wafer with an initial temperature of 22 °C. The deposition of PETN on the wafers was calculated at an assumed heat transfer coefficient (HTC) of 400 W/m2 K. This HTC proved to be the most sensitive parameter in determining the local surface temperature during deposition. Previous experimental work found noticeable microstructural changes with 0.5 mm fused silica wafers in place of silicon during the PETN deposition. This work showed that fused silica slows initial wafer cool down and results in ~10 °C difference for the surface temperature at 500 μm PETN film thickness. It was also found that the deposition surface temperature is insensitive to the cooling power of the copper block due to the copper block's very large heat capacity and thermal conductivity relative to the heat input from the PVD process. Future work should incorporate the addition of local stress during PETN deposition. Lastly, based on simulation results, it is also recommended to investigate the impact of wafer surface energy on the PETN microstructure and morphology formation.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000; NA0003525
OSTI ID:
1441479
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1430143
OSTI ID: 1765812
Report Number(s):
SAND--2018-2821J; 662402
Journal Information:
Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films, Journal Name: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 36; ISSN 0734-2101
Publisher:
American Vacuum SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Refractive Imaging of Air Shock Above Microscale Defects in Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate (PETN) Films
Journal Article · Wed Oct 14 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Propellants, Explosives, Pyrotechnics · OSTI ID:1721590

Enhanced flow boiling heat transfer on chromium coated zircaloy-4 using cold spray technique for accident tolerant fuel (ATF) materials
Journal Article · Sun Nov 29 23:00:00 EST 2020 · Applied Thermal Engineering · OSTI ID:1848091