Abstract and subjects
Shock-driven reactions are commonplace. Examples include the detonation of high explosives, shock-driven dissociation of polymers, and transformation of carbon from graphite-to-diamond phases. The study of shock-driven chemical reactions is important for understanding reaction thresholds, their mechanisms and rates, and associated state sensitivities under the extreme conditions generated by shock compression, with the ultimate goal of understanding the full transformation of reactant to product. Reactions are distinguished by their thermicity - e.g. the volume and enthalpy changes along the reaction coordinate. A survey of the hallmarks of shock-driven reactivity for a variety of simple molecules are presented, including benzene and acrylonitrile. These "simple" molecules illustrate the nature of reactive flow through particle velocity wave profiles measured by in situ electromagnetic gauging applied to gas gun-driven plate impact experiments. Progress in applying bondspecific diagnostics is also described, including time-resolved Raman spectroscopy in gas gun experiments, and recent results of in situ x-ray diffraction of carbon at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) free electron laser.