Considerations in the vapor analysis of traditional vs. homemade explosives

Abstract

Vapor detection of explosives is important for non-contact detection, vaporization of collected particles, and canine detection efforts. Much research has been carried out to aid in the vapor detection of traditional explosives, such as the nitro-based explosives like trinitrotoluene (TNT) and black and smokeless powders. Many of these explosives have extremely low vapor pressures, thus related vaporous components of the vapor signature are used for detection by proxy. As most of these explosives are extremely stable, their vapor signatures do not change significantly with time or environment. In contrast, comparatively little research has been done on the vapor detection of homemade explosives (HMEs), whose unique chemistries make vapor signature analysis a more complex problem. In this work, the vapor signatures of two types of HMEs were explored across time and environmental conditions, including ammonium nitrate-based binary explosives and organic peroxide explosive.