Impact-initiated chemical reaction behavior of PTFE/Al reactive materials—A theory-based numerical method

Reactive materials (RMs) are special type of impact-initiated energetic materials that have been widely studied with broad military application prospects. However, simulating the ignition and reaction of RMs using current numerical methods is difficult due to their complex mechanism related to high dynamic loads. In this work, based on a theoretical model consisting of impact ignition criteria and chemical reaction rate of polymer-based RMs, a numerical method with a unified equation of state was proposed and compiled as an executable program. Experiments consisting of typical polytetrafluoroethylene /Al RM projectiles impacting double-spaced plates were conducted and simulated using the user-compiled program, and the results verified the effectiveness of the numerical method. The simulation also qualitatively analyzed the second-collision induced reaction enhancement mechanism. In addition, the results revealed that the kinetic-chemical combined effect is a crucial factor that determined the damage enhancement effect on the rear plates.