Hexanitrostilbene

Abstract: The dynamics of carbon condensation in detonating high explosives remains controversial. Detonation model validation requires data for processes occurring at nanometer length scales on time scales ranging from nanoseconds to microseconds. A new detonation endstation has been commissioned to acquire and provide time-resolved small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) from detonating explosives. Hexanitrostilbene (HNS) was selected as the first to investigate due to its ease of initiation using exploding foils and flyers, vacuum compatibility, high thermal stability, and stoichiometric carbon abundance that produces high carbon condensate yields. The SAXS data during detonation, collected with 300 ns time resolution, provide unprecedented signal fidelity over a broad q-range. This fidelity permits the first analysis of both the Guinier and Porod/power-law regions of the scattering profile during detonation, which contains information about the size and morphology of the resultant carbon condensate nanoparticles. T...

Abstract: A miniature device for shock initiation of the hexanitrostilbene (HNS) through micro-charge detonation-driven flyer was fabricated. This device consisted of the substrate, micro-charge, flyer, and barrel. Four types of flyer (titanium of 28 μm, aluminum of 22 μm, copper of 22 μm and polyimide (PI) of 55 μm in thickness) were studied and the effect of micro-charge thickness, diameter, and barrel length were investigated by measuring the average flyer velocities using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) films. The results show that the titanium flyer is more proper for such initiation device compared to aluminum, copper, and polyimide flyer. The average velocity of the flyer increased with the thickness of micro-charge and the increment was larger when the thickness increases from 0.3 mm to 0.4 mm than when the thickness increases from 0.4 mm to 0.6 mm. The flyer velocity significantly increased with the increase in the diameter of micro-charge until a plateau appeared at 0.8 mm. The flyer velocity increased first and then decreased sharply with the increase in barrel length. The average velocity for a 28 μm thick titanium flyer was measured to be as high as 2468 m s−1 when the thickness, micro-charge diameter and the length of barrel were 0.6 mm, 0.8 mm and 659 μm, respectively. The HNS-IV explosive with density 1.57 g cm−3 was initiated by this miniature device.