Review of the Photodecomposition of Some Important Energetic Materials

The photodecomposition mechanisms of energetic materials vary with molecular structure, photodissociation wavelength, the phase of the material, experimental pressure and temperature etc. In this paper, the significant progress on photodecomposition studies of some important energetic materials achieved in recent years is introduced in detail, including nitromethane, DMNA (dimethylnitramine), TATB (1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene), RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine), HMX (1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7- tetrazacycloctane) and CL-20 (2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane). The difficulties and prospects of photodecomposition research of energetic materials are also indicated.