Shock response of 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX): The C-N bond scission studied by molecular dynamics simulations

The shock response has a great influence on the design, synthesis, and application of energetic materials in both industrial and military areas. Therefore, the initial decomposition mechanism of bond scission at the atomistic level of condensed-phase α-RDX under shock loading has been studied based on quantum molecular dynamics simulations in combination with a multi-scale shock technique. First, based on the frontier molecular orbital theory, our calculated result shows that the N-NO2 bond is the weakest bond in the α-RDX molecule in the ground state, which may be the initial bond for pyrolysis. Second, the changes of bonds under shock loading are investigated by the changes of structures, kinetic bond lengths, and Laplacian bond orders during the simulation. Also, the variation of thermodynamic properties with time in shocked α-RDX at 10 km/s along the lattice vector a for a timescale of up to 3.5 ps is presented. By analyzing the detailed structural changes of RDX under shock loading, we find that the shocked RDX crystal undergoes a process of compression and rotation, which leads to the C-N bond initial rupture. The time variation of dynamic bond lengths in a shocked RDX crystal is calculated, and the result indicates that the C-N bond is easier to rupture than other bonds. The Laplacian bond orders are used to predict the molecular reactivity and stability. The values of the calculated bond orders show that the C-N bonds are more sensitive than other bonds under shock loading. In a word, the C-N bond scission has been validated as the initial decomposition in a RDX crystal shocked at 10 km/s. Finally, the bond-length criterion has been used to identify individual molecules in the simulation. The distance thresholds up to which two particles are considered direct neighbors and assigned to the same cluster have been tested. The species and density numbers of the initial decomposition products are collected according to the trajectory.