Micro-hot-spot model taking into account the temperature dependence of the laser pulse absorption efficiency factor

Abstract

An improved model of the laser initiation of the explosive decomposition of energetic materials containing light-absorbing nanoparticles is investigated. The model takes into account how the light absorption efficiency factor changes with an increasing temperature. It is demonstrated that, as the temperature of an aluminum nanoparticle in pentaerythritol tetranitrate increases from 300 to 700 K, the light absorption efficiency factor increases by a factor of over 2. It is also shown that, for each particular nanoparticle radius in the 40–150 nm range, the temperature dependence of the light absorption efficiency factor over the relevant temperature range can be interpolated well by a second-order polynomial. Taking into account the variation of the efficiency of light absorption by the aluminum nanoparticle in the initiation of the explosive decomposition of pentaerythritol tetranitrate by a 12-ns-long neodymium laser pulse reduces the calculated critical energy density by a factor of 2.11 and decreases the optimum nanoparticle radius from 98 to 92 nm.