A system has been developed for the production of miniature aluminium flyer plates using a Nd: YAG laser. These flyer plates can achieve velocities in excess of 7 km/s and have been successfully impacted onto the secondary explosives pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) and hexanitrostilbene (HNS) to induce detonation. High-speed streak photography has been used to observe the integrity of the flyers and the detonation event. Sensitivity studies have been conducted to establish the threshold optical energy required to launch a flyer of sufficient velocity to produce a detonation. The effect of the density of the charge has been investigated and an optimum can be found. PETN is more sensitive to this stimulus, than HNS; complete experimental details and results are given.
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