Velocity measurements of inert porous materials driven by infrared-laser-ablated thin-film titanium

Journal Article · Mon Feb 15 04:00:00 EST 2010 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3273317· OSTI ID:21480228

Bedeaux, Brett C; Trott, Wayne M; Castaneda, Jaime N ^[1]

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1. Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185 (United States)

This article presents and interprets a series of experiments performed to measure the velocity of four inert low-density porous materials that were accelerated by an ablated thin-film titanium metal, created by vaporizing a 250-nm-thick layer of titanium with a high-energy, Q-switched, pulsed, and 1.054 {mu}m neodymium-glass laser. Inert powder materials were chosen to match, among other characteristics, the morphology of energetic materials under consideration for use in detonator applications. The observed behavior occurs near the thin-film titanium ablation layer, through complex physical mechanisms, including laser absorption in the metal layer, ablation and formation of confined plasma that is a blackbody absorber of the remaining photon energy, and vaporization of the remaining titanium metal. One-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling provided a basis of comparison with the measured velocities. We found, as predicted in wave-propagation-code modeling, that an Asay foil can indicate total momentum of the driven material that is mechanically softer (lower in shock impedance) than the foil. The key conclusion is that the specific impulse delivered by the laser transfers a corresponding momentum to soft, organic power columns that are readily compacted. Impulse from the laser is less efficient in transferring momentum to hard inorganic particles that are less readily compacted.

• OSTI ID: 21480228
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 107; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ABLATION
ABSORPTION
BLACKBODY RADIATION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTS
EVALUATION
EVAPORATION
FILMS
FLUID MECHANICS
FOILS
GLASS
HYDRODYNAMICS
IMPEDANCE
LASERS
LAYERS
MATERIALS
MECHANICS
METALS
MOMENTUM TRANSFER
MORPHOLOGY
NEODYMIUM LASERS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PLASMA
POROUS MATERIALS
POWDERS
RADIATIONS
SIMULATION
SOLID STATE LASERS
SOLID-STATE PLASMA
SORPTION
THIN FILMS
TITANIUM
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
WAVE PROPAGATION