Temperature measurements in shocked PBX 9501 using Raman thermometry

Raman thermometry, a Stokes/anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy technique, has been fielded on plate impact and explosively-driven shock (EDS) experiments for measuring shock temperature in a plastic bonded explosive (PBX). Plate impact experiments were conducted on a single-stage light gas gun and the EDS shock experiments were accomplished in a walk-in firing vessel. Temperature measurements on PBX 9501 from gas gun shots are compared to temperatures at similar pressures from EDS and all experimental temperatures show good agreement with temperatures predicted from AWSD hydrocode calculations. We demonstrate the feasibility of coupling Raman thermometry to gas gun experiments for collecting routine temperature measurements needed to validate high explosive models for chemical kinetics and thermomechanics.