Characterization of airborne ultrafine and nanometer particles during energetic material synthesis and testing

Several experiments were conducted to improve our understanding of the properties of aerosol particles generated by detonation of conventional explosive and explosives prepared from nahophase materials. Initial number concentrations (∼ 10⁶-10⁷ cm^-3) of particles produced by detonations of the nano-explosives were comparable to that produced by conventional explosive. In general, data taken by a time-of-flight aerodynamic sizer and a scanning differential mobility analyzer for the first sample indicate a multi-modal distribution that there were a peak between 0.7 and 0.9 μm, and one and/or two peaks smaller than 100 nm depending upon the explosive used. The material properties and formulation of the explosive appear to play a significant role in the enhanced particle growth and increased deposition velocity leading to a higher reduction rate of total particle concentrations. Furthermore, the high level of ultrafine particles and nanoparticles in addition to the enriched toxic metals, the biological properties (e.g., the cellular toxicity) of the detonation particles need to be investigated in the near future.