CL-20热分解反应机理的ReaxFF分子动力学模拟

为探究固相CL-20热分解反应机理,本文采用反应分子动力学ReaxFF MD模拟研究了含有128个CL-20分子的超胞模型在800–3000 K温度下的热分解过程。借助作者所在课题组研发的反应分析及可视化工具VARxMD得到了热分解过程中多种反应中间物和较为全面的反应路径。氮氧化物是CL-20初始分解的主要中间产物,其中NO₂是数量最多的初始分解产物,观察到的中间物NO₃的生成量仅次于NO₂。统计CL-20初始分解的所有反应后发现,在所有考察温度下CL-20初始分解路径主要是N―NO₂断裂反应和C―N键断裂引起开环的单分子反应路径。N―NO₂断裂反应数量在高温下显著增多,而C―N键断裂引起的开环反应数量随温度升高变化不大。在低温热分解模拟中还观察到CL-20初始分解阶段生成的NO₂会发生双分子反应—从CL-20分子中夺氧生成NO₃。对CL-20热分解过程中环结构演化进行分析后发现,CL-20分解的早期反应中间物主要为具有3元或2元稠环结构的吡嗪衍生物,随后它们会分解形成单环吡嗪。吡嗪六元环结构在热分解过程中非常稳定,这一模拟结果支持Py-GC/MS实验中提出吡嗪存在的结论。CL-20中的咪唑五元环结构相对不稳定,在热分解过程中会发生开环分解而较早消失。由ReaxFF MD模拟得到的3000 K高温热分解产物N₂,H₂O,CO₂和H₂的数量与爆轰实验的测量结果定量吻合。本文获得的对CL-20热分解机理的认识表明ReaxFF MD结合VARxMD有可能为深入了解热刺激下含能材料复杂化学过程提供一种有前景的方法。     

Effects of fuel additives on the thermal cracking of n-decane from reactive molecular dynamics

Thermal cracking of n-decane and n-decane in the presence of several fuel additives are studied in order to improve the rate of thermal cracking by using reactive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations employing the ReaxFF reactive force field. From MD simulations, we find the initiation mechanisms of pyrolysis of n-decane are mainly through two pathways: (1) the cleavage of a C-C bond to form smaller hydrocarbon radicals, and (2) the dehydrogenation reaction to form an H radical and the corresponding decyl radical. Another pathway is the H-abstraction reactions by small radicals including H, CH(3), and C(2)H(5). The basic reaction mechanisms are in good agreement with existing chemical kinetic models of thermal decomposition of n-decane. Quantum mechanical calculations of reaction enthalpies demonstrate that the H-abstraction channel is easier compared with the direct C-C or C-H bond-breaking in n-decane. The thermal cracking of n-decane with several additives is further investigated. ReaxFF MD simulations lead to reasonable Arrhenius parameters compared with experimental results based on first-order kinetic analysis. The different chemical structures of the fuel additives greatly affect the apparent activation energy and pre-exponential factors. The presence of diethyl ether (DEE), methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), 1-nitropropane (NP), 3,6,9-triethyl-3,6,9-trimethyl-1,2,4,5,7,8-hexaoxonane (TEMPO), triethylamine (TEA), and diacetonediperodixe (DADP) exhibit remarkable promoting effect on the thermal cracking rates, compared with that of pure n-decane, in the following order: NP > TEMPO > DADP > DEE (～MTBE) > TEA, which coincides with experimental results. These results demonstrate that reactive MD simulations can be used to screen for fuel additives and provide useful information for more comprehensive chemical kinetic model studies at the molecular level.     

Simulations on the thermal decomposition of a poly(dimethylsiloxane) polymer using the ReaxFF reactive force field

To investigate the failure of the poly(dimethylsiloxane) polymer (PDMS) at high temperatures and pressures and in the presence of various additives, we have expanded the ReaxFF reactive force field to describe carbon-silicon systems. From molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using ReaxFF we find initial thermal decomposition products of PDMS to be CH(3) radical and the associated polymer radical, indicating that decomposition and subsequent cross-linking of the polymer is initiated by Si-C bond cleavage, in agreement with experimental observations. Secondary reactions involving these CH(3) radicals lead primarily to formation of methane. We studied temperature and pressure dependence of PDMS decomposition by following the rate of production of methane in the ReaxFF MD simulations. We tracked the temperature dependency of the methane production to extract Arrhenius parameters for the failure modes of PDMS. Furthermore, we found that at increased pressures the rate of PDMS decomposition drops considerably, leading to the formation of fewer CH(3) radicals and methane molecules. Finally, we studied the influence of various additives on PDMS stability. We found that the addition of water or a SiO(2) slab has no direct effect on the short-term stability of PDMS, but addition of reactive species such as ozone leads to significantly lower PDMS decomposition temperature. The addition of nitrogen monoxide does not significantly alter the degradation temperature but does retard the initial production of methane and C(2) hydrocarbons until the nitrogen monoxide is depleted. These results, and their good agreement with available experimental data, demonstrate that ReaxFF provides a useful computational tool for studying the chemical stability of polymers.     

ReaxFF reactive force field for molecular dynamics simulations of hydrocarbon oxidation

To investigate the initial chemical events associated with high-temperature gas-phase oxidation of hydrocarbons, we have expanded the ReaxFF reactive force field training set to include additional transition states and chemical reactivity of systems relevant to these reactions and optimized the force field parameters against a quantum mechanics (QM)-based training set. To validate the ReaxFF potential obtained after parameter optimization, we performed a range of NVT-MD simulations on various hydrocarbon/O2 systems. From simulations on methane/O2, o-xylene/O2, propene/O2, and benzene/O2 mixtures, we found that ReaxFF obtains the correct reactivity trend (propene > o-xylene > methane > benzene), following the trend in the C-H bond strength in these hydrocarbons. We also tracked in detail the reactions during a complete oxidation of isolated methane, propene, and o-xylene to a CO/CO2/H2O mixture and found that the pathways predicted by ReaxFF are in agreement with chemical intuition and our QM results. We observed that the predominant initiation reaction for oxidation of methane, propene, and o-xylene under fuel lean conditions involved hydrogen abstraction of the methyl hydrogen by molecular oxygen forming hydroperoxyl and hydrocarbon radical species. While under fuel rich conditions with a mixture of these hydrocarbons, we observed different chemistry compared with the oxidation of isolated hydrocarbons including a change in the type of initiation reactions, which involved both decomposition of the hydrocarbon or attack by other radicals in the system. Since ReaxFF is capable of simulating complicated reaction pathways without any preconditioning, we believe that atomistic modeling with ReaxFF provides a useful method for determining the initial events of oxidation of hydrocarbons under extreme conditions and can enhance existing combustion models.     

Density-dependent liquid nitromethane decomposition: molecular dynamics simulations based on ReaxFF

The decomposition mechanism of hot liquid nitromethane at various compressions was studied using reactive force field (ReaxFF) molecular dynamics simulations. A competition between two different initial thermal decomposition schemes is observed, depending on compression. At low densities, unimolecular C-N bond cleavage is the dominant route, producing CH(3) and NO(2) fragments. As density and pressure rise approaching the Chapman-Jouget detonation conditions (～30% compression, >2500 K) the dominant mechanism switches to the formation of the CH(3)NO fragment via H-transfer and/or N-O bond rupture. The change in the decomposition mechanism of hot liquid NM leads to a different kinetic and energetic behavior, as well as products distribution. The calculated density dependence of the enthalpy change correlates with the change in initial decomposition reaction mechanism. It can be used as a convenient and useful global parameter for the detection of reaction dynamics. Atomic averaged local diffusion coefficients are shown to be sensitive to the reactions dynamics, and can be used to distinguish between time periods where chemical reactions occur and diffusion-dominated, nonreactive time periods.     

水分子对α相CL-20热分解机理影响的分子动力学研究

研究六硝基六氮杂异伍兹烷(CL-20)晶体不同晶型在不同温度下的反应机理, 对于深入认识含能材料在极端条件下的冲击起爆、冲击点火和爆轰过程等具有重要意义. 基于反应力场, 研究水分子在纯α相CL-20及其水合物的晶体结构中数量随时间的变换, 分析水分子对两种体系的初始分解和第二阶段的分解路径的影响. 计算结果表明: CL-20 分子的初始分解路径与水分子无关, 第二阶段的分解反应与水分子有关. 在低温(T<1500 K)下, 水分子对两种体系没有影响, 二者的初始分解路径均为N-NO₂键生成NO₂自由基; 在1500 K≤T≤2500 K时, 水分子作为反应物或与NO₂、、OH自由基等组成催化体系, 生成O₂、H₂O₂等产物, 加速水合物体系在高温下的第二阶段反应, 使得高温下水合物体系的化学反应速率和反应生成的NO₂自由基的数量比纯CL-20体系的化学反应速率和反应生成的NO₂自由基的数量大; 在T>2500 K时, 水分子的催化反应抑制CL-20初始分解反应, 使得在3000 K时纯CL-20体系的反应速率大于水合物体系中CL-20的反应速率.     

Comparative Studies on Thermal Decompositions of Dinitropyrazole-Based Energetic Materials

Dinitropyrazole is an important structure for the design and synthesis of energetic materials. In this work, we reported the first comparative thermal studies of two representative dinitropyrazole-based energetic materials, 4-amino-3,5-dinitropyrazole (LLM-116) and its novel trimer derivative (LLM-226). Both the experimental and theoretical results proved the active aromatic N-H moiety would cause incredible variations in the physicochemical characteristics of the obtained energetic materials. Thermal behaviors and kinetic studies of the two related dinitropyrazole-based energetic structures showed that impressive thermal stabilization could be achieved after the trimerization, but also would result in a less concentrated heat-release process. Detailed analysis of condensed-phase systems and the gaseous products during the thermal decomposition processes, and simulation studies based on ReaxFF force field, indicated that the ring opening of LLM-116 was triggered by hydrogen transfer of the active aromatic N-H moiety. In contrast, the initial decomposition of LLM-226 was caused by the rupture of carbon-nitrogen bonds at the diazo moiety.     

Development and application of a ReaxFF reactive force field for hydrogen combustion

To investigate the reaction kinetics of hydrogen combustion at high-pressure and high-temperature conditions, we constructed a ReaxFF training set to include reaction energies and transition states relevant to hydrogen combustion and optimized the ReaxFF force field parameters against training data obtained from quantum mechanical calculations and experimental values. The optimized ReaxFF potential functions were used to run NVT MD (i.e., molecular dynamics simulation with fixed number of atoms, volume, and temperature) simulations for various H(2)/O(2) mixtures. We observed that the hydroperoxyl (HO(2)) radical plays a key role in the reaction kinetics at our input conditions (T ≥ 3000 K, P > 400 atm). The reaction mechanism observed is in good agreement with predictions of existing continuum-scale kinetic models for hydrogen combustion, and a transition of reaction mechanism is observed as we move from high pressure, low temperature to low pressure, high temperature. Since ReaxFF derives its parameters from quantum mechanical data and can simulate reaction pathways without any preconditioning, we believe that atomistic simulations through ReaxFF could be a useful tool in enhancing existing continuum-scale kinetic models for prediction of hydrogen combustion kinetics at high-pressure and high-temperature conditions, which otherwise is difficult to attain through experiments.     

Mechanistic study of the gas-phase decomposition of methyl formate

The major products of the thermal decomposition of methyl formate in the gas phase are CH(3)OH, CH(2)O, and CO. Experimental studies have proposed that the mechanism to describe these observations involves two key steps: (1) unimolecular decomposition of methyl formate to yield CH(3)OH + CO, followed by (2) thermal decomposition of methanol to yield CH(2)O + H(2). The present study shows that there exists an alternative mechanism that is energetically more favorable. The new mechanism involves two competing parallel unimolecular decomposition pathways to yield the observed major products.     

First principle and ReaxFF molecular dynamics investigations of formaldehyde dissociation on Fe(100) surface

Detailed formaldehyde adsorption and dissociation reactions on Fe(100) surface were studied using first principle calculations and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and results were compared with available experimental data. The study includes formaldehyde, formyl radical (HCO), and CO adsorption and dissociation energy calculations on the surface, adsorbate vibrational frequency calculations, density of states analysis of clean and adsorbed surfaces, complete potential energy diagram construction from formaldehyde to atomic carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O), simulation of formaldehyde adsorption and dissociation reaction on the surface using reactive force field, ReaxFF MD, and reaction rate calculations of adsorbates using transition state theory (TST). Formaldehyde and HCO were adsorbed most strongly at the hollow (fourfold) site. Adsorption energies ranged from ?22.9 to ?33.9 kcal/mol for formaldehyde, and from ?44.3 to ?66.3 kcal/mol for HCO, depending on adsorption sites and molecular direction. The dissociation energies were investigated for the dissociation paths: formaldehyde → HCO + H, HCO → H + CO, and CO → C + O, and the calculated energies were 11.0, 4.1, and 26.3 kcal/mol, respectively. ReaxFF MD simulation results were compared with experimental surface analysis using high resolution electron energy loss spectrometry (HREELS) and TST based reaction rates. ReaxFF simulation showed less reactivity than HREELS observation at 310 and 523 K. ReaxFF simulation showed more reactivity than the TST based rate for formaldehyde dissociation and less reactivity than TST based rate for HCO dissociation at 523 K. TST‐based rates are consistent with HREELS observation. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Mechanism and kinetics for the initial steps of pyrolysis and combustion of 1,6-dicyclopropane-2,4-hexyne from ReaxFF reactive dynamics

We report the kinetic analysis and mechanism for the initial steps of pyrolysis and combustion of a new fuel material, 1,6-dicyclopropane-2,4-hexyne, that has enormous heats of pyrolysis and combustion, making it a potential high-energy fuel or fuel additive. These studies employ the ReaxFF force field for reactive dynamics (RD) simulations of both pyrolysis and combustion processes for both unimolecular and multimolecular systems. We find that both pyrolysis and combustion initiate from unimolecular reactions, with entropy-driven reactions being most important in both processes. Pyrolysis initiates with extrusion of an ethylene molecule from the fuel molecule and is followed quickly by isomerization of the fuel molecule, which induces additional radicals that accelerate the pyrolysis process. In the combustion process, we find three distinct mechanisms for the O(2) attack on the fuel molecule: (1) attack on the cyclopropane, ring expanding to form the cyclic peroxide which then decomposes; (2) attack onto the central single bond of the diyne which then fissions to form two C(5)H(5)O radicals; (3) attack on the alkyne-cyclopropane moiety to form a seven-membered ring peroxide which then decomposes. Each of these unimolecular combustion processes releases energy that induces additional radicals to accelerate the combustion process. Here oxygen has major effects both as the radical acceptor and as the radical producer. We extract both the effective activation energy and the effective pre-exponential factor by kinetic analysis of pyrolysis and combustion from these ReaxFF simulations. The low value of the derived effective activation energy (26.18 kcal/mol for pyrolysis and 16.40 kcal/mol for combustion) reveals the high activity of this fuel molecule.     

八硝基立方烷高温热分解分子动力学模拟

随着对高能量密度材料的性能要求不断提高,新型高能量密度材料成为近期研究热点,其中八硝基立方烷(ONC)由于其优越的性能成为其中典型的代表,然而关于八硝基立方烷热分解的动力学机理研究比较少。本文采用ReaxFF反应力场模拟高温条件下凝聚相八硝基立方烷初始热分解过程。研究发现热分解过程中八硝基立方烷笼状骨架结构中C-C键最先发生断裂,并逐步破坏形成八硝基环辛烯等,随后出现NO₂和O等,计算结果表明笼状骨架结构的破坏存在三种不同路径。八硝基立方烷在高温条件下热分解的主要产物有NO₂、O₂、CO₂、N₂、NO₃、NO、CNO以及CO等,其中N₂和CO₂是终态产物,不同温度对产物均产生不同程度的影响。     

高压下β-HMX热分解机理的ReaxFF反应分子动力学模拟

采用ReaxFF反应分子动力学方法研究了不同压缩态β-HMX晶体(ρ=1.89、2.11、2.22、2.46、2.80、3.20 g·cm^-3)在T=2500 K时的热分解机理, 分析了压力对初级和次级化学反应速率的影响、高压与低压下初始分解机理的区别以及造成反应机理发生变化的原因. 发现HMX的初始分解机理与压力(或密度)相关. 低压下(ρ<2.80 g·cm^-3)以分子内反应为主, 即N－NO₂键的断裂、HONO的生成以及分子主环的断裂(C－N键的断裂). 高压下(ρ≥2.80 g·cm^-3)分子内反应被显著地抑制, 而分子间反应得到促进, 生成了较多的O₂、HO等小分子和大分子团簇. 初始分解机理随压力的变化导致不同密度下的反应速率和势能也有所不同. 本文在原子水平对高压下HMX反应机理的深入研究对于认识含能材料在极端条件下的起爆、化学反应的发展以及爆轰等具有重要意义.     

Role of metal ions in the destruction of TATP: theoretical considerations

The safe decomposition of solid TATP (triacetone triperoxide) explosive is examined theoretically. The route to destruction starts with formation of metal complexes between a metal ion and the TATP molecule. The second step is decomposition of the molecules into stable final products. We examined the structure and stability of both metal ion (including Na(+), Cu(+), Cu(2+), Co(2+), and Zn(2+)) and proton complexes with TATP using quantum chemical calculations at the DFT-PBE0 level of theory. In addition, for each ion complex, we determined the initial steps in the pathway to decomposition together with the associated transition states. We find that the products of decomposition, in particular, acetone, are also stabilized by ion metal complexes. In agreement with experiment, we find the best candidates for metal ion induced decomposition are Cu(2+) and Zn(2+).     

基于ReaxFF力场的对硝基苯酚臭氧氧化分子动力学模拟

本文采用基于ReaxFF反应力场的分子动力学方法(ReaxFF MD),利用自主研发的国际首个基于GPU加速的ReaxFF MD程序系统GMD-Reax和独特的化学反应分析工具VARx MD,探索臭氧氧化对硝基苯酚的反应机理。通过模拟考察了300 K恒温条件下臭氧氧化水中对硝基苯酚的行为,获得了酚结构开环、CO_2生成、主要自由基(·OH、·O_2、·O)及团簇型自由基的数量演变趋势,并可定性描述六元环开环和CO_2生成均遵循伪一级反应动力学规律。反应机理分析表明酚类分子在水溶液中被臭氧氧化的路径主要经过攫氢、六元环开环、碳链的氧化分解三个阶段,也揭示了自由基和团簇型自由基在臭氧降解对硝基苯酚时所发挥的重要作用。本工作是应用ReaxFF MD分子模拟方法对常温水环境下臭氧降解酚类污染物反应机理研究的一个尝试,可为深入认识该机理及相关的实验、理论研究提供一定的参考。     

High-temperature decomposition of the cellulose molecule: a stochastic molecular dynamics study

The kinetics and products of cellulose pyrolysis can be studied using large-scale molecular dynamics simulations at high temperatures, where the reaction rates are high enough to make the simulation times practical. We carried out molecular dynamics simulations employing the ReaxFF reactive force field to study the initial step of the thermal decomposition process. We gathered statistics of simulated reactive events at temperatures ranging from 1400 to 2200 K, considering cellulose molecules with different molecular weights and initial conformations. Our simulations suggest that, in gas-phase conditions at these high temperatures, the decomposition occurs primarily through random cleavage of the β(1 → 4)-glycosidic bonds, for which we obtained an activation energy of (171 ± 2) kJ mol^?1 and a frequency factor of \(\left( {1.07 \pm 0.12} \right) \times 10^{15}\) s^?1. We did not observe dependency of the kinetic parameters on the molecular weight or initial conformation. Some of the decomposition reactions involved the release of low-molecular-weight products. Excluding radicals, the most commonly observed species were glycolaldehyde, water, formaldehyde and formic acid. Many of our observations are supported by the existing experimental and theoretical knowledge. We did not, however, observe the formation of levoglucosan, which is the dominant product in conventional pyrolysis experiments at much lower temperatures. This is understandable, since the high temperatures can force the dominance of radical reactions over pericyclic reactions. Nevertheless, our results support further use of ReaxFF-based molecular dynamics simulations in the study of cellulose pyrolysis.     

Theoretical investigation of unimolecular decomposition channels of furan4

Density functional theory and high-level ab initio calculations were carried out to investigate three unimolecular decomposition channels of furan. All equilibrium and transition state structures along the proposed decomposition channels are fully optimized by B3LYP/6-31G** and characterized at the same level of theory by vibrational and intrinsic reaction coordinate analyses. Relative energies of the optimized structures were evaluated at theoretical levels up to QCISD(T)/6-311++G**. The theoretical results suggest that the unimolecular decomposition channel of isoxazole, proposed in an experimental study and implied to be the main decomposition channel of furan, is responsible only for the formation of HC(TRIPLE BOND)CH and H₂O(DOUBLE BOND)C(DOUBLE BOND)O, minor products of furan thermal decomposition. A new decomposition mechanism, proposed in the present study, is shown to be more likely responsible for the formation of CH₃C(TRIPLE BOND)CH and CO, major products of furan thermal decomposition. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 19: 240–249, 1998     

“Close loop” mechanistic schemes for hydrocarbon polymer oxidation

Mechanistic schemes of radical oxidation of hydrocarbon polymers in which initiation is only due to unimolecular or bimolecular hydroperoxide decomposition have been studied. The results of their kinetic analysis have been compared with literature data relative to the thermal oxidation of polypropylene in solid state (60-160°C). These data are in remarkably good agreement with the “unimolecular” scheme whose main characteristics are: (1) the quasi-independence of the kinetic behavior with initial conditions (for low initial content of thermolabile structures), and (2) the fact that an arbitrarily defined induction period depends only on the rate constant of unimolecular hydroperoxide decomposition. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.