Electromagnetically induced localized ignition in secondary high explosives: Experiments and numerical verification

Abstract

In order to more fully understand the factors that influence the thermal “hot-spot” initiation of high explosives, we have chosen a model system for study that uses the internal and localized dissipation of long wavelength electromagnetic energy (microwaves). High purity organic crystals generally interact weakly with microwave energy. Therefore, the addition of electromagnetically absorbing inclusions of silicon carbide provides a tractable system for the study of hot-spot ignition phenomena. Previously, we developed a simple analytic model that illuminates the important physical factors. In this work, we verify the relationships of the analytic model using a series of experiments and a numerical model.