Correlation Between Hot Spots and 3-d Defect Structure in Single and Polycrystalline High-explosive Materials

A novel approach that spatially identifies inhomogeneities from microscale (defects, con-formational disorder) to mesoscale (voids, inclusions) is developed using synchrotron x-ray methods: tomography, Lang topography, and micro-diffraction mapping. These techniques pro-vide a non-destructive method for characterization of mm-sized samples prior to shock experiments. These characterization maps can be used to correlate continuum level measurements in shock compression experiments to the mesoscale and microscale structure. Specifically examined is a sample of C4. We show extensive conformational disorder in gamma-RDX, which is the main component. Further, we observe that the minor HMX-component in C4 contains at least two different phases: alpha- and beta-HMX.