Propagation and ignition of fast gasless detonation waves of phase or chemical transformation in condensed matter

Fast self sustained waves of chemical or phase transformations, observed in several contexts in condensed matter effectively result in “gasless detonation". The phenomenon is modelled by coupling the reaction diffusion equation, describing chemical or phase transformations, and the wave equation, describing elastic perturbations. The coupling considered in this work involves (i) a dependence of the sound velocity on the chemical (phase) field, and (ii) the destruction of the initial chemical equilibrium when the strain exceeds a critical value (strain induced phase transition). Both the case of an initially unstable state (first order kinetics) and metastable state (second order kinetics) are considered. An exhaustive analytic and numerical study of travelling waves reveals the existence of supersonic modes of transformations. The practically important problem of ignition of fast waves by mechanical perturbation is investigated. With the present model, the critical strain necessary to ignite gasless detonation by local perturbations is determined. Received 18 November 1999