Use of an Electro-Optical Method to Determine Detonation Temperatures in High Explosives

A method has been devised for sampling the optical radiation from the interior of a detonating solid-explosive charge by introducing a transparent plastic rod axially into the charge at the time of fabrication. The radiation was analyzed by a grating spectrograph, using four bands 100 A wide and 600 A apart. The radiation intensities were used to calculate the color temperatures within the detonating explosive. The apparatus was calibrated by a radio-frequency-excited lamp known to have gray-body radiation. The explosive charges were vacuum-impregnated with propane to replace the air in the intergranular voids to eliminate light emission from the air shock.