Reactant Jetting in Unstable Detonation

We note the common existence of a supersonic jet structure locally embedded within a surrounding transonic flow field in the hitherto unrelated phenomena of unstable gaseous detonation and hypervelocity blunt body shock wave interaction. Extending prior results that demonstrate the consequences of reduced endothermic reaction rate for the supersonic jet fluid in the blunt body case, we provide an explanation for observations of locally reduced OH PLIF signal in images of the keystone reaction zone structure of weakly unstable detonations. Modeling these flow features as exothermically reacting jets with similarly reduced reaction rates, we demonstrate a mechanism for jetting of bulk pockets of unreacted fluid with potentially differing kinetic pathways into the region behind the primary detonation front of strongly unstable mixtures. We examine the impact of mono-atomic and diatomic diluents on transverse structure. The results yield insight into the mechanisms of transition and characteristic features of both weakly and strongly unstable mixtures

Metallic liquid hydrogen and likely Al2O3 metallic glass

Dynamic compression has been used to synthesize liquid metallic hydrogen at 140 GPa (1.4 million bar) and experimental data and theory predict Al2O3 might be a metallic glass at ~300 GPa. The mechanism of metallization in both cases is probably a Mott-like transition. The strength of sapphire causes shock dissipation to be split differently in the strong solid and soft fluid. Once the 4.5-eV H-H and Al-O bonds are broken at sufficiently high pressures in liquid H2 and in sapphire (single-crystal Al2O3), electrons are delocalized, which leads to formation of energy bands in fluid H and probably in amorphous Al2O3. The high strength of sapphire causes shock dissipation to be absorbed primarily in entropy up to ~400 GPa, which also causes the 300-K isotherm and Hugoniot to be virtually coincident in this pressure range. Above ~400 GPa shock dissipation must go primarily into temperature, which is observed experimentally as a rapid increase in shock pressure above ~400 GPa. The metallization of glassy Al2O3, if verified, is expected to be general in strong oxide insulators. Implications for Super Earths are discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 14th Liquid and Amorphous Metals Conference, Rome 201

Shock sensitivity of LX 04 at elevated temperatures

Hazard scenarios can involve multiple stimuli, such as heating followed by fragment impact (shock). The shock response of LX-04 (85 weight % HMX and 15 weight % Viton binder) preheated to temperatures hear 170C is studied in a 10.2 cm bore diameter gas gun using embedded manganin pressure gauges. The pressure histories at various depths in the LX-04 targets and the run distances to detonation at several input shock pressures are measured and compared to those obtained in ambient temperature LX-04. The hot LX-04 is significantly more shock sensitive than ambient LX-04. Ignition and Growth reactive flow models are developed for ambient and hot LX-04 to allow predictions of impact scenarios that a can not be tested directly

SHOCK INITIATION OF COMPOSITION B AND C-4 EXPLOSIVES; EXPERIMENTS AND MODELING

Shock initiation experiments on the explosives Composition B and C-4 were performed to obtain in-situ pressure gauge data for the purpose of providing the Ignition and Growth reactive flow model with proper modeling parameters. A 100 mm diameter propellant driven gas gun was utilized to initiate the explosive charges containing manganin piezoresistive pressure gauge packages embedded in the explosive sample. Experimental data provided new information on the shock velocity--particle velocity relationship for each of the investigated material in their respective pressure range. The run-distance-to-detonation points on the Pop-plot for these experiments showed agreement with previously published data, and Ignition and Growth modeling calculations resulted in a good fit to the experimental data. Identical ignition and growth reaction rate parameters were used for C-4 and Composition B, and the Composition B model also included a third reaction rate to simulate the completion of reaction by the TNT component. This model can be applied to shock initiation scenarios that have not or cannot be tested experimentally with a high level of confidence in its predictions

DYNAMIC LOADING OF TEFLON AT 200?C

Dynamic loading experiments were performed on inert Teflon (Polytetrafluoroethylene) samples, initially heated to the temperature of 200 C, to test its behavior under these conditions for its use in other heated experiments. Tests were performed in the 100 mm diameter bore propellant driven gas gun with piezo-resistive manganin pressure gauges imbedded into the samples to measure loading pressures. Experimental data provided new information on the shock velocity - particle velocity relationship for the heated material and showed no adverse effect of temperature on the insulating properties of the material