Mesoscale Dynamic Damage Visualization and Simulation of Energetic Materials under Impact*

Energetic materials may be subjected to impact. Under such loading conditions, local stress or strain concentrations may lead to the formation of hot spots and unintended reaction. To visualize the dynamic damage and reaction processes in polymer bonded energetic crystals under dynamic compressive loading, a high-speed X-ray phase contrast imaging setup was synchronized with a Kolsky bar and a light gas gun. Controlled compressive loading was applied on PBX specimens with a single or multiple energetic crystal particles and impact-induced, time-resolved damage and reaction processes were captured using the high-speed X-ray PCI. Numerical simulation models were built based on the experimental results and used to investigate the impact damage in PBX over a wider range of parameter variations.