High-throughput tabletop shock experiments with applications to energetic materials

In this talk I will describe experiments to study shocked materials with nanosecond time resolution and micrometer space resolution using hypervelocity (0-6 km/s) laser-launched flyer plates coupled to an optical microscope loaded with arrays of tiny (<0.1 mg) plastic-bonded explosives. Velocities and pressures are measured using a photon Doppler velocimeter, while temperatures are determined from thermal emission using an optical pyrometer and a nanosecond video camera. The scientific focus will be on understanding hot spots and hot spot growth in plastic-bonded HMX, and on developing metallized composite produced by arrested reactive ball milling for more powerful detonations. High-throughput tabletop shock experiments with applications to energetic materials