The Thermomechanical Response of Composite Energetic Materials Under High- and Low-frequency Mechanical Excitations

The preferential generation of heat within hidden explosive materials would be highly valuable to currently-existing explosives detection technologies, due to the associated increase in vapor pressure and thus concentration of detectable vapors. In this work, the thermomechanics of plastic-bonded explosives, propellants, and surrogates thereof are investigated due to their widespread adoption in improvised explosive devices. These classes of material consist of energetic crystals held within an inert plastic binding material. Understanding the composite nature of the material, two methods of heat generation are investigated: low-frequency excitation with wavelengths on the structural-scale and ultrasonic excitation with wavelengths on the crystal-scale.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Year

2016

Author dc:creator

• Miller, Jacob Kress

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jeffrey F. Rhoads
• Steven F. Son
• Ronald G. Reifenberger
• John S. Bolton
• Patricia Davies

• energetics
• heat generation
• plastic-bonded
• thermomechanics
• ultrasonic
• vibration

Repository record dc:identifier

https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/1408

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:docs.lib.purdue.edu:open_access_dissertations-2624