Thin-pulse experiments performed on triaminotrinitrobenzene (TATB)-based explosives at different temperatures and pressed densities

Abstract

Experiments were performed on triaminotrinitrobenzene (TATB)-based explosives to measure the thin-pulse shock-initiation response at different temperatures (ambient, 75 °C, and −55 °C), densities (∼1.87–1.90 g/cm3), and at varying pulse durations. A thin stainless-steel flyer plate backed by a low-density foam was used to generate the thin pulse, and experiments were performed at pressures high enough to cause transition to detonation with a thin-pulse input. Cooled and heated experiments entailed a redesign of previous hardware utilized to perform similar experiments to minimize material usage and prevent damage to the test chamber, as well as validation of temperature profiles within the target using thermocouples embedded in manganin gauges. Information about temperature-based kinetics of TATB can be gleaned from these tests, and data obtained were used to validate reactive flow models. A discussion of this work will include the experimental parameters, data analysis, run-distance-to-detonation comparisons to literature results, comparisons to simulation results, as well as potential future experiments.