Effect of Pore Morphology on Localized Heating from Inert Mesoscale Simulations of PETN

Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate (PETN) explosive compacts are more sensitive to initiation at lower densities under long duration shocks (Sheffield, 1997). This is due to an increase in hotspots associated with a higher fraction of voids and other heterogeneities. Different pore morphologies affect the sensitivity of HMX (Tran, 2006) but little work has been done looking at PETN, where this issue is very relevant since its surface porosity increases due to aging (Brown, 2015). Synthetic pore networks based on scanning electron microscope images of pristine PETN were generated. The microstructure’s void fraction was increased by varying the size, morphology, and pore count and the effect on the evolution of heating shocked PETN observed. Comparisons between the change in thermal evolution between the different microstructures will be presented and the relevant mechanisms will be discussed
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Tran, L. and H. S. Udaykumar (2006). Journal of Propulsion and Power 22(5): 947-958.
Kathryn E. Brown, D. C. M., Geoffrey W. Brown (2015). APS Topical Group on Shock Compression of Condensed Matter.