Determination of propellant products by time resolved and spatial distribution LIPS combined with high-speed schlieren imaging

Abstract

The determination of the composition and timing sequence of products during the detonation of energetic materials is crucial for the evaluation of detonation performance and improvement of the formulation. However, it is difficult to determine the detonation products of energetic materials due to the fast reaction time during detonation. Herein, a new setup is built to detect the detonation products of energetic materials by time correlated laser induced plasma spectroscopy (LIPS) combined with high-speed schlieren imaging. The characteristics of time resolution and spatial distribution of propellant products from laser induced micro-detonation are obtained using the system. According to the time resolved spectrum of the products and high-speed schlieren images of laser induced micro-detonation, we speculate on the timing sequence of gaseous propellant products from laser induced micro-detonation in air: N₂, O₂, and nitrogen oxides precede hydrocarbon gases, followed by carbon oxides and gaseous containing the element of H. Moreover, the distribution of the gaseous products from laser induced micro-detonation are clarified. This study provides a new method for the detection of products during the detonation of energetic materials.