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Title: On The Deflagration to Detonation Transition in 1.65 g cm-3 Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate

Abstract

The LANL Weapons Response Group is charged with making determinations for a wide range of scenarios regarding the probability that inadvertent ignition of the high explosive (HE) components might cause nuclear yield, or dispersal of special nuclear material, during assembly/disassembly operations at the Pantex Plant. These scenarios are categorized based on the nature of the ignition causing stimulus, i.e. impact, electrostatic discharge, pressure-shear, etc. However, for all of these scenarios, regardless of how ignition is achieved, there must also be a credible path for the burning HE to transition to detonation for yield or dispersal to occur. If it can be determined that there is no feasible path for deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT), the scenario space that requires mitigative action is greatly reduced. The strategy to support Weapons Response determinations is to use experimentation and observation to evaluate HE response in severe “overtest” configurations. To increase with confidence in the margins of HE response, these overtests are designed, by controlling parameters known to enhance HE response violence, to be more severe than what is ever encountered in the actual operations environment at the Plant. This study is focused on DDT in pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), a high explosive that is used inmore » LANL’s detonators. PETN is known to be able to DDT at certain densities, and this represents a safety concern. The PETN in LANL’s detonators is commonly a density of 1.65 g cm-3. However, DDT has never been observed at this density in PETN. In this work, we studied the DDT reaction in 1.65 g cm-3 PETN to determine whether DDT is possible at this density, and if so, what length of PETN is required for the transition to occur. In any of the tests conducted, we did not observe DDT in 1.65 g cm-3 PETN. It is possible that the DDT length for 1.65 g cm-3 PETN is greater than 6” (the available run length in the experiments), but this length is simply not available in a detonator, and is therefore not a concern.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
OSTI Identifier:
1581268
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-19-32671
DOE Contract Number:  
89233218CNA000001
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE

Citation Formats

Schulze, Peter Andreas, Parker, Jr., Gary Robert, Lopez-Pulliam, Ian Daniel, Feagin, Trevor Alexander, and Heatwole, Eric Mann. On The Deflagration to Detonation Transition in 1.65 g cm-3 Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.2172/1581268.
Schulze, Peter Andreas, Parker, Jr., Gary Robert, Lopez-Pulliam, Ian Daniel, Feagin, Trevor Alexander, & Heatwole, Eric Mann. On The Deflagration to Detonation Transition in 1.65 g cm-3 Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1581268
Schulze, Peter Andreas, Parker, Jr., Gary Robert, Lopez-Pulliam, Ian Daniel, Feagin, Trevor Alexander, and Heatwole, Eric Mann. 2019. "On The Deflagration to Detonation Transition in 1.65 g cm-3 Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1581268. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1581268.
@article{osti_1581268,
title = {On The Deflagration to Detonation Transition in 1.65 g cm-3 Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate},
author = {Schulze, Peter Andreas and Parker, Jr., Gary Robert and Lopez-Pulliam, Ian Daniel and Feagin, Trevor Alexander and Heatwole, Eric Mann},
abstractNote = {The LANL Weapons Response Group is charged with making determinations for a wide range of scenarios regarding the probability that inadvertent ignition of the high explosive (HE) components might cause nuclear yield, or dispersal of special nuclear material, during assembly/disassembly operations at the Pantex Plant. These scenarios are categorized based on the nature of the ignition causing stimulus, i.e. impact, electrostatic discharge, pressure-shear, etc. However, for all of these scenarios, regardless of how ignition is achieved, there must also be a credible path for the burning HE to transition to detonation for yield or dispersal to occur. If it can be determined that there is no feasible path for deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT), the scenario space that requires mitigative action is greatly reduced. The strategy to support Weapons Response determinations is to use experimentation and observation to evaluate HE response in severe “overtest” configurations. To increase with confidence in the margins of HE response, these overtests are designed, by controlling parameters known to enhance HE response violence, to be more severe than what is ever encountered in the actual operations environment at the Plant. This study is focused on DDT in pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), a high explosive that is used in LANL’s detonators. PETN is known to be able to DDT at certain densities, and this represents a safety concern. The PETN in LANL’s detonators is commonly a density of 1.65 g cm-3. However, DDT has never been observed at this density in PETN. In this work, we studied the DDT reaction in 1.65 g cm-3 PETN to determine whether DDT is possible at this density, and if so, what length of PETN is required for the transition to occur. In any of the tests conducted, we did not observe DDT in 1.65 g cm-3 PETN. It is possible that the DDT length for 1.65 g cm-3 PETN is greater than 6” (the available run length in the experiments), but this length is simply not available in a detonator, and is therefore not a concern.},
doi = {10.2172/1581268},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1581268}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Dec 20 00:00:00 EST 2019},
month = {Fri Dec 20 00:00:00 EST 2019}
}