Synthesis of an ultradispersed diamond phase during detonation of composites

We have attempted to analyze the synthesis of the diamond phase during, the detonation of secondary explosives by comparing the results of an explosion experiment with data obtained by studying preserved UDD powders. These data show that during detonation the growth in the UDD particles is a strongly limited process that is essentially independent of the size of the explosive charge or the external cooling conditions. The size distributions of diamond particles formed during direct synthesis from the carbon contained in the molecular structure of the explosive and during dissociation of inert organic substances are in satisfactory agreement with a lognormal distribution. The thermodynamic conditions during synthesis determine the dispersivity of the product UDD particles and this must be taken into account in thermodynamic detonation calculations. The effect of the different constituents of the, explosive on UDD synthesis (heat and mass transfer) is strongly limited. These data may support the concept of detonation in secondary explosives as a set of relatively fast and much slower reactions [25, 26] where, in the case of composites, the coagulation of carbon released during decomposition of each component separately and diffusion processes among the components may both act as slow exothermic reactions.