Post-detonation

Total containment of post-detonation toxic hot gas products until safe for processing. 

The presence of the coating system as well as other materials which were potentially combustible raised the risk of causing additional Increases in the post-detonation gas pressure. Recent experimental work (7) has confirmed the significance of this... 

For thermobaric weapons (also known as EBX = enhanced blast explosives), in addition to a conventional explosion, a flammable substance (usually Al), with little or no oxidizer (e.g. oxygen) distributed in the air detonates immediately as a result of the explosion. This post-detonative reaction ( fireball of Al with air) usually occurs within jus after the detonation of the high explosive. This causes the effect of the original explosion to be magnified which results in an even larger heat... 

In thermobaric weapons, first anaerobic detonation occurs within the microsecond time-frame, followed by a post-detonative combustion which is also anaerobic and occurs in the hundredth of a microsecond time-frame. Only then, the post detonative burning occurs, which lasts several milliseconds and generates strong heat radiation even at small shock-wave pressures (approx. 10 bar)... 

It is now required in the United States that commercial explosives should be tagged in such a way that the detection and post-detonation identification of explosives should be possible. Materials added to explosives for these purposes are called taggants. 

Another line of demarcation separates whether an IND or RDD was successfiilly exploded (a post-detonation scenario), or whether the device was interdicted or failed to fire (predetonation situation). This differentiation reflects very different incident consequences, as well as the ensuing NFA. 

Bellncci, J.J., Simonetti, A., Wallace, C. et aL (2013). Isotopic fingerprinting of the world s first nnclear device nsing post-detonation materials, Anal. Chem. 85, 4195 198. 

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