Advanced Energetic Materials and Characterization

Engineered Ingredients, Fabrication and Dynamic Experimentation

From Novel Ingredients to Dynamic Experiments

Our group is primarily focused on fundamental aspects of energetic materials (propellants, explosives, and pyrotechnics). This includes engineering ingredients, fabricating tailored materials, and characterizing performance using state-of-the-art dynamic experimentation. Ultimately our research aims to improve the performance, safety, or toxicity of energetic materials. We seek to develop tailored disruptive energetic materials with unique properties. We develop or apply the most advanced diagnostics applied in harsh reacting environments to develop improved understanding and detailed characterization. We also have interest in energy topics, advanced batteries, metals as energy carriers, cleaner coal combustion and hydrogen storage.

Meet the Research Teams

Son Group Alumni

Laboratories

Our laboratories are located primarily in theMaurice J. Zucrow Laboratories for fabrication and testing, with additional laboratory space at FLEX Lab (https://engineering.purdue.edu/FlexLab) for characterization and analysis. Our explosives and combustion cells and chambers with remote operation and fortification are located at Zucrow Labs, and characterization and analytical equipment is located in FLEX. There are several user and jointly used facilities that we use across Purdue’s campus comprising the Purdue Energetics Research Center (PERC).

Zucrow laboratory complex consists of 7 buildings that are located, for safety reasons, in a remote area west of the Purdue University main campus. These facilities and the equipment within can be utilized to synthesize, formulate, test (deflagrate or detonate), and characterize energetic materials and ensuing combustion products under controlled environments. This includes three detonation chambers with up to 250 gram TNT equivalent charge capability. The test space is spread over five two-story high test cells. Test cell exhaust replaces the ambient air twice per minute and has available exhaust for direct venting of experiments. Storage of solid and liquid fuels and materials are available with proper security protocols for safe and secure use in the proposed experiments. Zucrow laboratories have two dedicated machinists and one electrician, multiple full-time engineers/scientists with expertise in high-pressure combustion and energetic materials, secretarial assistance, a facilities manager, and business office staff. Propellants and explosives are fabricated within the Maurice J. Zucrow Lab. Other characterization is spread across Bowen Labs, Mechanical Engineering Bldg, and Birck Nanotechnology Center.

Research

Some current research areas include safety of novel refrigerants, advanced propellant ingredients, small-scale propellant ballistic and mechanical characterization, reactive wires in propellants, solid fuels for rotating detonation engines, solid fuels for hypersonic propulsion, detonation wave shaping, metal particle combusiton, advanced detonation diagnostics, and advanced batteries.