Safer method to characterise highly sensitive explosives developed by UoH research group

The Terahertz research group at the University of Hyderabad, led by researcher Koalla Rajesh and senior professor Anil Kumar Chaudhary from the School of Physics, has developed a safer and more effective method to characterise highly sensitive explosives.

Characterising sensitive high-energy materials, particularly primary explosives, is notoriously difficult because of the hazards involved in handling them and the difficulty in preparing pure pellets. Direct pellet preparation is risky due to their extreme sensitivity to shock, grinding and compression.

To address this, the researchers mixed the explosives with a low-absorption binding matrix, enabling safe pellet preparation. Using Effective Medium Theory (EMT) models, they were able to extract the intrinsic optical and dielectric properties of the pure explosives from the composite pellets — a crucial step for practical applications.

The findings have been published in the peer-reviewed journal ‘Infrared Physics & Technology’, the university said in a press release.