The fundamental processes in shock-induced instabilities of materials remain obscure, particularly for detonation of energetic materials. We simulated these processes at the atomic scale on a realistic model of a polymer-bonded explosive (3,695,375 atoms/cell) and observed that a hot spot forms at the nonuniform interface, arising from shear relaxation that results in shear along the interface that leads to a large temperature increase that persists long after the shock front has passed the interface. For energetic materials this temperature increase is coupled to chemical reactions that lead to detonation. We show that decreasing the density of the binder eliminates the hot spot.
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