Raman spectroscopy of aminated and ultrafine 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene and PBX 9502 as a function of pressing pressure

The Raman spectra of emulsion aminated, wet aminated, dry aminated, and ultrafine 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) and PBX 9502 explosive powders are measured in a pellet die at pressures from ambient to 180 MPa with a 632.8 nm helium-neon laser. Raman peak frequencies and line widths are calculated from accurately calibrated spectra. The spectral region below 400 cm(-1), where the pressure shifts of the Raman peaks are larger, is emphasized. The most salient effect of pressing is an approximate permanent doubling of the line width of the ambient 56.9 cm(-1) peak for all TATB types. This peak is also much wider in the ultrafine TATB powder than in the other TATB powders, which indicates that the process of creating the ultrafine powder also creates changes in the TATB crystals. The peaks in the spectra of the aminated TATBs and PBX 9502 are very similar, but differences in the fluorescence backgrounds correlate with the expected crystalline purity differences from the different amination processes. The peak frequencies versus pressure for several of the more intense low-frequency peaks can be fit well to linear functions between 40 and 180 MPa. The pressure slopes of the emulsion aminated peaks are consistently larger than the slopes of the other powders. Grüneisen parameters calculated from peaks below 100 cm(-1) are scattered, which is probably caused by the anisotropy of TATB crystals and different types of intermolecular bonds.