Prediction of violent mechanochemical processes
Energetic materials, such as high explosives, propellants and ballotechnics, are widely used as energy sources in the design of numerous devices, components and processes. Although most energetic materials are selected for safe operation, their high energy densities have the potential for inadvertent initiation and subsequent powerful energy transformations. This potential for damage or injury places a heavy burden on careful analysis of safety issues as part of the design process. As a result, considerable effort has been devoted to empirical testing of initiation conditions, and development of scientific models of initiation processes that have been incorporated into computer models for numerical simulation of initiation of reaction. Nevertheless, in many cases, there is still only rudimentary understanding of the processes of initiation. Mechanochemical processes are perhaps the least understood of the various excitation mechanisms. In these energy transformation processes mechanical stimuli lead directly to initiation and substantial reaction under conditions not thought to be capable of reaction. There are no established scientific models of the initiation of mechanochemical reactions in energetic materials. Mechanochemical reactions can be initiated by enhanced solid state chemical reactivity, changes in reactant configuration, and localization of initiation energy. Such solid state reactions are difficult to understand, either empirically or scientifically, as they are inherently nonequilibrium processes; scientific models currently used assume equilibrium thermochemical conditions and materials behaviors. The present work was undertaken as a first step in developing a scientific basis for prediction of the initiation of mechanochemical processes in high energy density solids.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Financial Management and Controller, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 437696
- Report Number(s):
- SAND--97-0038; ON: DE97003150
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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