Investigation of the Reaction Zone Characteristics of PETN initiated by a Laser flyer

Poster presented at the 2018 Defence and Security Doctoral Symposium.A 400mJ Nd:YAG laser has been used to launch aluminium/alumina flyers into small, low density pellets of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). The beam profile was homogenised by dispersive smooth­ing through a length of optical fibre. By varying the thickness and velocity of the flyer, experiments could be performed with a range of input shock magnitudes and durations. Microfabricated sensors were developed to detect the change in electrical conductivity in the reaction zone, and therefore to calculate its thickness and position as a function of time. (C) British Crown Owned Copyright / 2018