SBIR/STTR Award attributes
The potential of explosive energetics has long elicited the need for understanding, control, and optimization. Scientific theory, development, and experimental investigations collaborate to create applications for offensive and defensive strategies. Visual evidence of ionization, subsequent recombination, and shockwave interaction indicate that dynamic electrical potential distributions are intrinsic to the explosive process. Electrical probes placed in situ have been used to measure detonation velocities as well as ion and free-electron temporal and spatial densities. Given the various explosive chemistries, the nature of the molecular distributions varies resulting in different electro-kinetics meaning in part that different ionized molecular species and free electrons expand outward at different velocity rates. Explosive transient electromagnetic detection and signature identification are only as good as the measurement detection methodology used. The nature of the details of explosive electrodynamics and magneto dynamics has been studied and reported extensively. These examinations are very diverse and made complicated by: (1.) the numerous explosive chemistries, (2.) the environment the explosive encounters, and (3.) by the analytical tools and methodology used to measure their electromagnetic properties. The proposed research effort contact herein will seek to better understand these interrelated phenomenon and refine them into an effective tool.
