Abstract
The cloud of products formed following the detonation of lead azide (LA) contains gaseous species and solid particles. The dynamics of the detonation products expanding freely or through a supersonic nozzle into vacuum is unraveled via the temporal profiles of the pressure, the emission from Pb atoms and the attenuation of a He-Ne beam. The velocity of the fastest gaseous species is found from the onset of the pressure rise and the emission at a given distance from the LA sample, and the velocity of the fastest solid particles from the attenuation. In the free expansion, the respective velocities are 4.5±0.1 and 3.8±0.2 km/s and in the nozzle expansion 5.1±0.2 and 1.4±0.2 km/s. The expansion into atmospheric pressure air is also monitored and found to be much slower than that into vacuum. The utilization of nozzles as a means for obtaining a particle free, transparent medium of detonation products is stressed in the context of exploiting explosives for achieving chemical lasers in the visible wavelength region.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 11-14 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Shock Waves |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Jul 1994 |
Keywords
- Expansion of detonation products
- Lead azide
- Supersonic nozzle
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Mechanical Engineering
- General Physics and Astronomy