Investigation of early stages of explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate crystal decomposition initiated by pulsed electron beams

The method of high-resolution pulsed optical spectroscopy is used to investigate the spectral-kinetic characteristics of explosive emission of pentaerythritol tetranitrate crystal excited by a pulsed electron beam (0.25 MeV, 35 ns, and 15 J/cm²). It is established that emission with the spectrum comprising three components with maxima at 3.1, 2.4, and 1.5 eV is initiated in the edge of the excitation pulse. Moreover, transformation of the emission spectrum is observed directly within the time over which the excitation pulse acts followed by the emission decay; however, emission develops again on the subnanosecond scale; moreover, its spectrum contains only the 1.5-eV band, which appears to be an indicator of the self-sustaining chemical reaction of explosive decomposition. The 3.1-and 2.4-eV bands are identified as emissions of an exciton and a primary NO ₂* radiative defect, and the 1.5-eV band is probably connected with the NO ₃ radical. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 2, pp. 3–9, February, 2007.