Abstract and subjects
2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) is a widely used explosive that is relatively insensitive to initiation by shock loading. While the detonation properties of TNT have been extensively reported, the high pressure-temperature (P-T) stability of TNT has not been investigated in detail. At ambient conditions, TNT crystallizes in a monoclinic lattice (space group P2(1)/a), and our previous X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements at room temperature suggested a phase transition to orthorhombic (space group Pca2(1)) at similar to 20 GPa. In this work, we have performed in-situ synchrotron XRD and vibrational spectroscopy measurements along the room temperature isotherm to investigate phase stabilities up to 18 GPa. While our Raman spectroscopy measurements indicate spectral changes at similar to 2 GPa, careful XRD measurements reveal that the monoclinic phase persists up to 10 GPa.