Strain-induced structural change and mechanical properties of 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene probed by neutron diffraction

Abstract

TATB (1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene) is a widely used insensitive high-energy explosive. It is significant to study its structural evolution in order to get a credible understand of its properties and performances. Direct mechanical tests such as hardness tests are useful approaches to get information about its mechanical properties and shed light upon the microstructures. However, due to the poor solubility of TATB to most solvents, it is hard to produce large crystals for such tests. Fortunately, microcosmic approaches such as powder diffraction can reinforce it and has low requirement on samples. In this study, series of in-situ neutron diffraction experiments under different pressures are performed to investigate the structural change and mechanical properties of TATB. The recently reported phase transition at 4 GPa is studied. The microstrains in normal TATB (12–17 µm) are analysed to reveal the information of slip system and transitional process. The lattice parameters and bulk moduli of TATB under different conditions are given. These neutron diffraction results are significant supplement to correlative studies and will help to understand the performances of TATB, such as deformation and phase transition.