Performance Investigation of a Copper Azide Micro Detonator Using Experiments and Simulations

Abstract In this paper, to study the output capacity of the micro detonator in MEMS flyer initiation sequence, we studied the driving Ti flyer process of micro detonator filled with “in‐situ” synthetic copper azide micro charge by combining experimental test, thermodynamic calculation, and hydrodynamic simulation. On the one hand, the flight process of the flyer is tested by an all‐fiber photonic Doppler velocimeter (AFPDV), and a complete flyer velocity curve is obtained. On this basis, the effects of different micro charge thickness, micro charge density, and accelerating chamber length on the flight process of the flyer are studied and analyzed. Thus, valuable experimental data are provided for the research of related micro detonators. On the other hand, we study the simulation of the copper azide micro charge driving flyer process. Firstly, we use the detonation thermodynamic program to calculate and fit the detonation velocity (D), detonation CJ pressure (P CJ ), and JWL equation of state (EOS) parameters of detonation products of copper azide for simulation. For the gaseous detonation product, we compared the effects of three virial EOS: VLW EOS, VHL EOS, and VPL EOS on the calculation values of detonation parameters for copper azide. For the solid detonation product, a new EOS that can accurately describe the high temperature and high‐pressure state of copper was introduced to the program. Using the detonation parameters of copper azide calculated by thermodynamics, the process of driving the Ti flyer by micro charge is simulated by the 2D ALE method and compared with the experimental data under corresponding conditions.