Molecular dynamics simulations of shock waves in oriented nitromethane single crystals

Decomposition mechanism of 1,3,5-trinitro-2,4,6-trinitroaminobenzene under thermal and shock stimuli using ReaxFF molecular dynamics simulations

To obtain atomic-level insights into the decomposition behavior of 1,3,5-trinitro-2,4,6-trinitroaminobenzene (TNTNB) under different stimulations, this study applied reactive molecular dynamics simulations to illustrate the effects of thermal and shock stimuli on the TNTNB crystal. The results show that the initial decomposition of the TNTNB crystal under both thermal and shock stimuli starts with the breakage of the N-NO₂ bond. However, the C₆ ring in TNTNB undergoes structural rearrangement to form a C₃-C₅ bicyclic structure at a constant high temperature. Then, the C₃ and C₅ rings break in turn. The main final products of TNTNB under shock are N₂, CO₂, and H₂O, while NO,  N_2, H₂O and CO are formed instead at 1 atm under a constant high temperature. Pressure is the main reason for this difference. High pressure promotes the complete oxidation of the reactants.

Molecular dynamics simulation of shock-induced microscopic bubble collapse

Shock waves and micro-jets generated during the process of bubble collapse lead to cavitation damage on the surface of materials in hydraulic machinery equipment parts, which is attention. However, research on the dynamics of bubble collapse is still unclear. In this work, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are used to study the compression and collapse processes of microscopic bubbles under the impact of different velocities for water molecules. The velocities of the shock wave, time of bubble collapse and shock pressure of collapse were obtained. Results showed that higher the impact velocity, shorter is the time of bubble collapse and the higher velocity of the micro-jet. After the bubble collapse, the micro-jet will form secondary water hammer shocks and a greater shock pressure. The water structure appears to undergo a phase change (ice-VII structure) when the velocity of water molecules is 1.0 km s^-1. The shock induces the bubble collapse and the micro-jet significantly increases the chemical activity of water molecules; the degree of ionization of water molecules increases with the shock velocity. In addition, the Hugoniot curve of the shock velocity obtained by molecular dynamics simulations are in good agreement with the experimental data.

Effects of different dopant elements on structures, electronic properties, and sensitivity characteristics of nitromethane

In this study, the doped defects in nitromethane crystals were investigated using first-principles calculations for the first time. We introduce dopant atoms in the interstitial sites of the nitromethane lattice, aiming to study the effects of element-doping on the structural properties, electronic properties, and sensitivity characteristics. The obtained results show that doped defects obviously affect the neighboring nitromethane molecules. The modification of electronic properties shows that the band gaps are significantly influenced by doped defects. Partial density of states and population analysis further reveal the mechanism for sensitivity control of nitromethane. It is shown that the new electronic states were introduced in the forbidden bands and the doped defects resulted in charge redistributions in the systems. Graphical abstract The valence and conduction band edge positions as well as defect levels of pure and X-doped NM.

Controlling cross pumping between C-N and C-H vibration in nitromethane by selective fluorescence-enhanced stimulated Raman scattering

To investigate the vibrational features of nitromethane (NM), which is a kind of energy material and a well known low-sensitivity and high explosive, experiments are performed to obtain the stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) of NM by employing a 532 nm pulsed pump laser. The Raman signal involves two stimulated emissions at 918 and 2,963 cm^-1, attributed to the C-N and C-H stretching vibrations, respectively. To overcome the complexity of cross pump in the pure NM, one stimulated Raman radiation is chosen as a pump source to excite the other Raman mode. Two fluorescence dyes were added to selectively enhance each Raman cross section. By internally seeding the Raman gain medium with fluorescent photons, a significant modification in the stimulated Raman scattering spectrum has been observed. The enhanced Stokes emission at 918 cm^-1 was able to induce the 2,963 cm^-1 vibration mode when the all-trans-β-carotene was internal seeding in the NM, while the Raman radiation at 2,963 cm^-1 was enhanced to excite the C-N mode with the addition of m-Cresol purple. The output energy of both 918 and 2,963 cm^-1 under different input energy was also measured to illustrate this result.

Molecular dynamics simulations of shock waves in hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene melts: mechanical and structural responses

The mechanical and structural responses of hydroxyl-terminated cis-1,4-polybutadiene melts to shock waves were investigated by means of all-atom non-reactive molecular dynamics simulations. The simulations were performed using the OPLS-AA force field but with the standard 12-6 Lennard-Jones potential replaced by the Buckingham exponential-6 potential to better represent the interactions at high compression. Monodisperse systems containing 64, 128, and 256 backbone carbon atoms were studied. Supported shock waves were generated by impacting the samples onto stationary pistons at impact velocities of 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 km s(-1), yielding shock pressures between approximately 2.8 GPa and 12.5 GPa. Single-molecule structural properties (squared radii of gyration, asphericity parameters, and orientational order parameters) and mechanical properties (density, shock pressure, shock temperature, and shear stress) were analyzed using a geometric binning scheme to obtain spatio-temporal resolution in the reference frame centered on the shock front. Our results indicate that while shear stress behind the shock front is relieved on a ∼0.5 ps time scale, a shock-induced transition to a glass-like state occurs with a concomitant increase of structural relaxation times by several orders of magnitude.