Fast Reactions in Energetic Materials

Under the title Energetic Materials, the author considers practically all important homogeneous and heterogeneous systems such as solid and liquid explosives, pyrotechnic substances, mixtures used in combustion synthesis and all components of present rocket fuels. Since combustion and explosion of these materials are greatly influenced by the kinetics of their chemical reactions, a quantitative study of their kinetics is of great interest to both theoretical and practical applications. Kinetic studies of thermal decomposition of energetic materials have been very successful so far for both high and low temperatures but only for gaseous systems. For condensed materials these studies were limited to low temperatures mainly because of lack of specialized techniques and instrumentation.