Laser initiation of low-density PETN mixtures with metal additives

This paper presents data on laser initiation of low-density PETN mixtures with metal additives with varying dispersion of PETN and particle size of the additives. A laser with a wavelength of 1.06 $\mu$m and a pulse length of 40 and 30 ns was used. Curves of the threshold initiation parameters on the additive content are shown to have minima. For coarse additives, no significant dependence of the initiation threshold of the mixtures on the nature of the metal at its optimum content (except for aluminum) was observed. For PETN mixtures with an optimum amount of fine aluminum, a significantly greater decrease in the threshold initiation parameters (a factor of 6.2) compared to direct initiation of PETN was found.àIt is shown that the initiation thresholds of the mixtures do not depend on the degree of dispersion of PETN with optimum content of additives. Increasing the degree of dispersion of PETN extends the dependences of the threshold parameters on the additive content while the optimum content is shifted to higher values. The initiation thresholds are found to strongly depend on the density of the mixture charge. The key points of the mechanism of laser initiation of PETN mixtures with additives are formulated.