Sensitivity to Heat and Nuclear Radiation

This chapter is concerned with data on the sensitivity of explosive azides to heat, nuclear, and other intense radiation. These stimuli, when directed at solid explosives, may have very similar consequences, even though they may have very different origins. The parallelism is attributable to the conversion and degradation processes which occur when powerful stimuli impinge on condensed matter. 

Because of the extensive discussion in Volume 1, the sensitivity of azides to heat is only briefly touched upon in this chapter. The effects of high-energy (UV) radiation of low intensity are also discussed at length in Chapter 7 of Volume 1. 

While such radiation may be a component of the radiation resulting from electron excitations, radioactive decay, or nuclear fission processes, the consequences for azides are usually mild and non-self-sustaining. When intense beams and the full spectrum of species associated with nuclear and electromagnetic radiation are considered, more spectacular effects can be observed, and it is these which take up most of the discussion here. 

In 1922 Henderson [1] postulated that a-particles might be used to detonate explosives, and there has been a continuing interest in whether self-sustaining reactions can be initiated by nuclear or optical radiation of selected energies. The molecular or electronic aspects of the subject are described in Volume 1 this chapter, therefore, is devoted primarily to macroscopic effects. 

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L. Avrami J. Haberman, Sensitivity to Heat and Nuclear Radiation , in H.D. Fair ... 

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