Dynamic Experiments at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Comprehensive energetic materials development, characterization and testing are key strengths at Los Alamos National Laboratory. An experimental explosive is shown igniting during small-scale impact testing.

Nuclear weapons energetic materials science, technology and engineering expertise since 1943

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Los Alamos novel rocket design flight tested

Intensive study and precision use of energetic materials, central to the function of a nuclear weapon and broader national security concerns, began at Los Alamos in 1943 during the Manhattan Project.

Building upon more than 70 years of nuclear weapons energetic materials science, technology and engineering expertise, Los Alamos National Laboratory continues to define the field of energetic materials and their characteristics. The Dynamic Experiments Center's capabilities include a focus on countering emerging threats such as terrorism and weapons of mass destruction and supporting the warfighter missions.

A Los Alamos researcher installs a target in one of the research "gas guns" designed for high precision experiments on the ignition of explosives. Full-spectrum end-to-end integrated capabilities in energetic materials with nuclear application experience and modeling and simulation capabilities exist only at Los Alamos and the National Nuclear Security Administration laboratories.

Given today's evolving threats, Los Alamos' expertise plays a critical role in effectively assisting the nation’s nuclear weapons experts, intelligence analysts, homeland security assets, emergency response teams and military ground forces in detection, disablement and defeat of a wide variety of energetic materials threats. Los Alamos successes include the production of extremely safe “insensitive” explosives and the publication of the book, Detonation.

Capabilities

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Los Alamos Guns Take Aim at Material's Mysteries

The Explosives Center at Los Alamos National Laboratory provides expertise that spans comprehensive explosives development, characterization, testing, modeling and simulation. The Center’s goals are to integrate and advance the Lab’s explosives capabilities for the modern nuclear weapons mission and a range of national security challenges, such as

• Characterizing homemade explosives (see the Picture of the Week: Explosive science to save lives)
• Determining explosive lethality and vulnerabilities
• Developing techniques and technologies to defeat explosives threats
• Determining the short-and long-term effects of explosives aging
• Operations, characterization, and firing with explosives and radiological materials in contact
• Performing core surveillance
• Analyzing blast effects as well as potential mitigation
• Characterizing shock and detonation physics properties of materials

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Homemade Explosives School

Many unique Los Alamos specialties contribute to this important capability, including

• Open-air and confined firing with many types of diagnostics
• Gas and powder guns
• Flash x-rays, high-speed cameras, interferometric techniques, magnetic gauging, pyrometry and many more diagnostics
• Research- and pilot-plant scale formulation, powder production, pressing, crystallization, and casting (see the Picture of the Week: Brewing high explosives)
• Production facility for war reserve detonators, detonator R&D
• Synthetic and analytical chemistry
• Mechanical properties testing
• Thermal response
• Microstructural characterization
• Shock and non-shock initiation
• Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility
• Proton Radiography Facility
• Lujan Neutron Scattering Center
• Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies
• Materials Science Laboratory
• National High Magnetic Field Laboratory