Study of thermal decomposition

mechanisms and low-level detection of

explosives using pulsed photoacoustic
technique
F.Yehya, A.K.Chaudhary, D.Srinivas &
K.Muralidharan

Applied Physics B
Lasers and Optics
ISSN 0946-2171
Appl. Phys. B
DOI 10.1007/s00340-015-6218-6

1 23

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Author's personal copy

Appl. Phys. B
DOI 10.1007/s00340-015-6218-6

Study ofthermal decomposition mechanisms andlowlevel

detection ofexplosives using pulsed photoacoustic technique
F.Yehya1,2 A.K.Chaudhary1 D.Srinivas1 K.Muralidharan3

Received: 26 November 2013 / Accepted: 7 September 2015

Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Abstract We report a novel time-resolved photoacoustic-based technique for studying the thermal decomposition mechanisms of some secondary explosives such as
RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine), picric acid,
4,6-dinitro-5-(4-nitro-1H-imidazol-1-yl)-1H-benzo[d] [1
3] triazole, and 5-chloro-1-(4-nitrophenyl)-1H-tetrazole.
A comparison of the thermal decomposition mechanisms
of these secondary explosives was made by detecting NO2
molecules released under controlled pyrolysis between 25
and 350C. The results show excellent agreement with the
thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TGA
DTA) results. A specially designed PA cell made of stainless steel was filled with explosive vapor and pumped using
second harmonic, i.e., =532nm, pulses of duration 7ns
at a 10Hz repetition rate, obtained using a Q-switched
Nd:YAG laser. The use of a combination of PA and TGA
DTA techniques enables the study of NO2 generation, and
this method can be used to scale the performance of these
explosives as rocket fuels. The minimum detection limits of
the four explosives were 38ppmv to 69ppbv, depending on
their respective vapor pressures.

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this

article (doi:10.1007/s00340-015-6218-6) contains supplementary
material, which is available to authorized users.
* A. K. Chaudhary
anilphys@yahoo.com
1

Advanced Center forResearch inHigh Energy Materials,

University ofHyderabad, Hyderabad500046, India

Department ofPhysics, Faculty ofEducation, Al-Baida

University, 38018AlBaida, Yemen

School ofChemistry, University ofHyderabad,

Hyderabad500046, India

1Introduction
Molecules containing nitro groups are high-energy materials (HEMs). HEMs with optimum detonation performances
combined with good thermal stabilities and insensitivity
to shock and friction are being developed as rocket fuels.
Benchmark secondary HEMs such as 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX; Research Department Explosives), trinitrotoluene, high-melting explosives (HMX)
(octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine), and pentaerythritol tetranitrate have different decomposition mechanisms, which involve breaking NN bonds and concerted
rings, followed by release of thermal energy and other
nitrogen oxides [1, 2]. At least a few kilograms of a new
HEM in propellant form are required for testing the quality of a new HEM as a rocket fuel. These propellants are
prepared by mixing secondary HEM powders with other
components such as stabilizers, curing agents, and burn
rate modifiers with suitable binders in different proportions
[3]. The laboratory production of large quantities of HEMs
is still a challenging task. Consequently, there is a need to
develop new analytical pyro- and laser-based spectroscopic
techniques for testing the thermal stabilities and efficiencies of new HEMs in small quantities.
RDX is one of the most powerful explosives and is
widely used in military and industrial applications. Several groups have developed theoretical models for understanding the molecular dynamics of RDX and clarified the
multistep bond-breaking mechanism [2, 46]. In all cases,
NO2 was found to be one of the principal by-product gases.
However, these bond-breaking mechanisms are predicted to
occur at very high temperatures, i.e., above 1200C. Some
experimental reports on the thermal decomposition mechanisms of RDX, CL-20, and other explosives have described
the release of NO2 at just above their melting points, i.e.,

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F. Yehya etal.
Fig. 1a Chemical structures of
HEM samples, b Some of the
calculated eigenmodes of the
PA cavity

above 200C. The results of thermal decomposition studies

of other classes of HEMs such as imidazoles, pyrazoles, triazoles, and tetrazoles with high contents of nitrogen based
on detonation velocity and pressure have motivated our
group to perform similar laboratory studies on some new
HEMs such as 4,6-dinitro-5-(4-nitro-1H-imidazol-1-yl)1H-benzo[d] [13] triazole and 5-chloro-1-(4-nitrophenyl)1H-tetrazole [7]. Their chemical structures are shown in
Fig.1a, and synthesis details are provided in the Electronic
supplementary material.
Picric acid [2,4,6-triNitrophenol (TNP)] is one of the
most acidic phenols and is classified as a secondary explosive. It is one of the most frequently used compounds in
munitions manufacturing. Picric acid improves the staining
of acid dyes and is therefore used in the preparation of histology specimens [8], but it can also lead to hydrolysis of
DNA present in samples. Nitroaromatic compounds, which
are widely used as dyes, pesticides, and explosives, are
common environmental pollutants. They can be analyzed
using various analytical techniques such as thermogravimetric analysisdifferential thermal analysis (TGADTA),
Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and bomb
calorimetry.
However, the techniques used to study the thermal
decomposition mechanisms of secondary HEMs have
some technical limitations. TGADTA and differential scanning calorimetry coupled with FTIR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry provide thermal and

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spectroscopic signals. However, in all these techniques,

the samples need to be heated to above their decomposition temperatures. These techniques are therefore
unable to provide significant information on the initiation mechanisms of the thermal decomposition of HEMs
sample, which probably occurs below their melting
points [914].
Photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy has the advantages
of high sensitivity, selectivity, a compact setup, and fast
responses. It is widely used for trace gas analysis at parts
per million to parts per billion levels [1524]. Several
groups, including ours, have reported PA studies of NO2
using the second harmonic of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser. However, these studies are restricted to pure NO2 gas [2529].
In this study, we used an improved version of an existing
PA spectroscopic technique to study the thermal decomposition mechanisms of RDX, picric acid, and two new nitrogen-rich secondary explosives during controlled pyrolysis
between 25 and 350C. The high sensitivity of the PA
technique enabled determination of the NO2 released by
HEM molecules just above room temperature. Its selectivity enabled the selection of suitable data acquisition
times for recording fingerprint PA spectra of HEM vapor
produced by NO2 molecules via non-radiative transitions.
The fast response time enabled us to record the multiple
steps of the bond-breaking thermal decomposition mechanisms of HEMs. The obtained results were verified using
TGADTA.

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Study of thermal decomposition mechanisms and low-level detection of explosives using pulsed

2Theoretical
Figure1b shows the calculated eigenmodes of the PA cavity. They were obtained using the inhomogeneous wave
equation of sound pressure (P) in a loss-less cylindrical
resonator:

dH(r, t)
d 2 P(r, t)
c2 2 P(r, t) = ( 1)
dt 2
dt

(1)

where c, , and H are the sound velocity, adiabatic coefficient of the gas, and heat density deposited in the gas by
absorption of light, respectively. The solution of Eq.(1)
gives the eigenfunction and eigenmodes of the PA cavity.
The frequency of the acoustic resonance modes generated
within the cylindrical cells can be determined using Eq.(2):

Fmnq


1
c  mn 2  q 2 2
+
=
2
R
L

(2)

where c is the sound velocity, mn is the nth zero of the

derivative of the mth Bessel function at r=R, and R and L
are the radius and length of the cylinder, respectively. The
normal modes are separated into longitudinal (q), radial
(n), and azimuthal (m) modes [17, 19].

3Experimental
Figure2a shows a schematic diagram of the layout of the
PA experiment. We used frequency-doubled 532nm pulses
of duration 7ns at a 10Hz repetition rate, obtained using
a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (Model Spit, Coherent Inc.,
Germany). A specially designed stainless-steel PA cell
of length 75mm and radius 7.5mm was used to excite a
vapor of the explosive. A prepolarized microphone of
responsivity 50mV/Pa (BSWA, China) was placed at the
center of the cell to record the PA signal. A round-bottomed
flask made of borosilicate glass, housed in a temperaturecontrolled oven, was used to produce HEM vapors at
25350C. The entire system was connected to a vacuum
pump, and a needle valve was used to control the vapor
flow rate through the inlet. The output signal from the
microphone was fed to a preamplifier, which was coupled
to 200MHz oscilloscope (Tektronix, USA) through a boxcar averager/integrator system (Stanford Instruments Inc.,
USA). The oscilloscope output was fed to a data acquisition program (LabView software) for signal processing.
Controlled pyrolysis was performed by heating a few
grains (~1mg) of solid HEM in a flask in an oven. The
oven temperature was controlled using a laboratorydesigned temperature controller and measured using a thermocouple-based sensor. The flask and PA cell were evacuated to 103 torr using a vacuum pump. The fresh sample

vapor was supplied to the PA cell in a controlled manner

using a specially designed gas-handling system coupled
with needle valves. The system was connected to a pressure
gauge for monitoring the pressure of the PA system. Thermal PA signals were recorded in the same way, using fresh
sample vapor.
TGADTA of the explosives was performed using
a Q600 DT instrument. The solid sample (1.2mg) was
placed in an alumina crucible and heated at 25350C in
a nitrogen atmosphere at 760torr (flow rate 100cm3/min).
An empty alumina crucible was used as a reference for
calibration. Non-isothermal TGA runs were conducted at
25350C; the heating rate was 10C/min [3033].

4Results anddiscussion
4.1PA spectra ofexplosive samples
For a given PA cell, the second-order longitudinal modes
of all the HEM samples were observed at 4.8kHz. The
values of the other frequency modes differed slightly from
their calculated values; this is attributed to temperature
variations. These excited eigenmodes vary from sample to
sample and can be treated as a signature of the explosive
molecules.
The inset in Fig.2b shows the time-domain PA signal
of 4,6-dinitro-5-(4-nitro-1H-imidazol-1-yl)-1H-benzo[d]
[13] triazole (sample No. 1) at data acquisition time
t=2.5ms; this covers the acoustic frequency range up to
50kHz. The PA strength is between 2 and +2mV. The
fast Fourier transform (FFT) of the corresponding timedomain signal provided a frequency-domain spectrum of
sample No. 1. This confirms excitation of low-intensity
modes at 12.4, 12.9, 14.3, 15.7, and 26kHz.
The inset in Fig.2c shows the time-domain PA signal
of 5-chloro-1-(4-nitrophenyl)-1H-tetrazole (sample No.
2) at data acquisition time t=2.5ms. The PA strength is
between 0.8 and +0.8mV. The FFT of the corresponding time-domain signal shows the presence of some distinct
high-intensity acoustic modes at 12.45, 14.33, 15.75, and
17.5kHz.
The inset in Fig.2d shows the time-domain PA signal of
RDX (sample No. 3) at data acquisition time t =2.5ms.
The PA signal strength is between 4 and +4mV. The FFT
of the corresponding time-domain signal shows the presence of a combination of two equally high- and low-intensity modes located at 12.4, 25.9, 15.5, 17.5, and 36.5kHz.
The inset in Fig.2e shows the time-domain PA signal of picric acid (sample No. 4) at data acquisition time
t=0.02ms. The PA signal strength is between 0.6 and
+0.6mV. The FFT of the corresponding time-domain signal provided a frequency-domain spectrum of sample No.

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F. Yehya etal.
Fig. 2a Schematic layout
of photoacoustic experiment.
PA spectra of b sample 01, c
sample 02, d sample 03, and e
sample 04

(a)

Tektronix
200MHz
Oscilloscope

PC with
LabView

Boxcar
Integrator

PA Cell

Sample
Holder &
Heating
system

(c)

(d)

(e)

4. The PA spectrum of sample No. 4 has two equal intensity modes located at 5kHz. Another pair of modes is present near 12kHz.
These results confirm that the resonance frequencies differ from sample to sample; this is probably because the vapor
densities of the explosives are different. It mainly depends on
the chemical composition and bond-breaking mechanism of
the explosive sample. In addition, the time-domain signals
shown in the insets in Fig.2c, d are affected by digital noise
from an unknown source, but the data acquisition program

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4
1

1. Pressure gauge
2,3 Gas controllers
4. Microphone

(b)

Preamplifier

Energy
meter
3

Vacuum pump

has inbuilt noise filters that can remove undesirable noise

from the signal to provide high-quality frequency-domain
spectra. The intensity of each peak in the PA spectrum varies significantly with changes in physical parameters such as
pressure, temperature, and laser energy. The spectrum can
therefore be treated as an acoustic fingerprint of the explosive. The clear distinctions among the intensity profiles of the
PA spectra of HEMs also show their relative efficiencies in
releasing energy. The peaks of the PA spectrum of RDX are
highly resolved and more intense than those of picric acid.

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Study of thermal decomposition mechanisms and low-level detection of explosives using pulsed

Fig. 3a Temperature effect on PA signal and b TGADTA curves of sample 01. c Temperature effect on PA signal and d TGADTA curves of
sample 02

In this study, we showed that the PA signal increases

with increasing temperature; this is directly related to an
increase in the number of free NO2 molecules. The NO2
molecule has strong coupling between the high vibrational
levels of the X2A1 ground state and 2B2 or 2B1. Consequently, all the absorbed optical energy contributes to heating of the sample. The NO2 molecule is excited to the 2B2
level as a result of absorption at 532nm and transfers its
excitation energy to the PA signal by VT and VV relaxations through collisions with air molecules.
4.2Thermal decomposition study
4.2.14,6Dinitro5(4nitro1Himidazol1yl)1H
benzo[d] [13] triazole (sample No. 1)
Figure 3a shows the temperature dependence of the PA
spectrum of sample No. 1. There is a small variation in the
strength of the PA signal between 48 and 98C, followed

by an exothermic decomposition peak of maximum intensity at 194C. There are two additional exothermic peaks,
at 284 and 327C. The high-intensity second exothermic
peak represents the final decomposition point (Td). The
overall decomposition process takes place in two steps. In
the first step, which gives rise to the PA signal at 194C,
NNO2 bond breakage occurs, which releases the first
batch of NO2 molecules. The second step produces another
strong peak, at 284C, which is regarded as a critical temperature, and is the starting point for ring breaking or total
thermal decomposition. The nitrogen gas released from the
broken rings reacts with the oxygen present in the air and
produces a new batch of NO2 molecules. Freshly generated
NO2 produces a strong PA signal. The different types of
chemical reactions involved in the bond-breaking process
are shown below [34, 35]:

NO2 NO + O

(3)

3NO N2 O + NO2

(4)

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F. Yehya etal.

N2 O + NO N2 + NO2

(5)

N2 O N2 + O

(6)

The TGA curve in Fig.3b provides significant information about the exothermic reactions and corresponding
mass losses occurring between 150 and 280C. In addition,
it shows that 20% of the initial mass remains unconverted.
The DTA curve shows zones with different types of thermal phase transition and highlights the endothermic and
exothermic behaviors of the sample. Small endothermic
valleys are also present, at 77 and 164C. These valleys
represent solidsolid phase-transition points. The second
thermal zone of interest in the curve lies between 150 and
280C. This zone provides information on the initial and
final points of the thermal decomposition reaction in terms
of rapid phase transition. The exothermic peak at 321C
represents oxidation of nitrogen released by ring-breaking
reactions.
4.2.25Chloro1(4nitrophenyl)1Htetrazole (sample No.
2)
Figure3c shows the thermal PA spectrum of sample No. 2.
A flat acoustic peak between 40 and 82C is followed by a
peak of moderate intensity at 154C. The presence of additional peaks from NO2 indicates completion the multistep
defragmentation process. Above 250C, the reaction path
is similar to that for sample No. 1. However, the strength of
the generated PA signal is lower than that for sample No. 1.
The overall thermal decomposition process shows that the
energy-releasing efficiency of sample No. 1 is higher than
that of sample No. 2, and it can produce larger amounts of
free NO2 and nitrogen compared with sample No. 2.
Figure3d shows the TGADTA thermographs for sample No. 2. The TGA curve shows that mass loss occurs
between 150 and 250C and confirms that 18% of the initial mass remains unconverted. The DTA curve shows the
phase transition and thermal decomposition behaviors of
the sample. The first solidsolid phase transition occurs at
91C, and there is a pair of exothermic peaks at 180C.
These peaks are attributed to thermal decomposition, and
the small exothermic peak at 262C indicates oxidation.
4.2.3RDX (Sample No. 3)
Figure 4a shows the temperature-dependent PA spectrum
of sample No. 3. The first signature peak of RDX appears
at 53C, followed by a highly thermally stable zone up
to 183C. The compound then starts multistep release of
NO2. The presence of intense PA signals at 244 and 312C
confirms decomposition. The experimental temperature

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was restricted to 350C for safety reasons. However, the

PA spectrum shows that there is rapid growth of a signal
at higher temperature, which represents concerted ring
breaking and oxidation of RDX, similar to the processes
observed for samples No. 1 and 2.
Figure4b shows the TGADTA thermographs for RDX.
The DTA curve shows a small thermal valley at 53.8C,
whereas the TGA curve shows no change until it reaches
the melting point, i.e., 202.5C, at which an endothermic valley appears, followed by a decomposition point
at 239.3C. The presence of an exothermic peak in the
DTA curve and the PA signal at 225C confirms thermal
decomposition.
4.2.4Picric acid (sample No. 4)
Figure 4c shows the thermal PA spectrum of picric acid.
The first PA signal appears above room temperature. In
addition, there are three distinct PA peaks, at 52, 150, and
190C. The intensity of the first peak is almost half that
of the second peak, and the intensity of the second peak is
slightly higher than that of the third peak. The PA spectrum
therefore indicates multistep thermal decomposition, which
is responsible for the release of fresh NO2 from the sample.
However, the PA signal of picric acid gradual decays and
reaches ground level above 190C. This shows that free
NO2 is unavailable above this temperature. This can be easily be verified from the structure of picric acid, which contains no nitrogen in the ring.
Figure 4d shows the TGADTA thermographs of sample No. 4. The TGA curve shows that mass loss occurs
via an exothermic reaction between 150 and 250C. The
TGA curve also shows a significant amount of residual
mass, around 52% of the initial mass of the sample. The
DTA curve shows small endothermic valleys, at 43 and
86C. This valley represents the solidsolid phase-transition point. This is followed by a strong exothermic peak at
186C, which can also be regarded as the thermal decomposition point of picric acid. Unlike the previous samples,
no exothermic peak appears after completion of decomposition. Picric acid has no nitrogen in its ring structure,
whereas samples No. 13 have more than one nitrogen in
their ring structures. These results further corroborate our
contention that the nitrogen released from samples No. 13
reacts with oxygen to produce fresh NO2, which gives rise
to an exothermic peak in the DTA curve. In the case of picric acid, which contains no nitrogen in the ring structure,
this exothermic peak is absent from the DTA curve.
4.3Dependence ofPA signal onincident laser energy
The PA signal shows two distinct features with respect to
the incident laser energy. When the laser energy is low,

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Study of thermal decomposition mechanisms and low-level detection of explosives using pulsed

Fig. 4a Temperature effect on PA signal and b TGADTA curves of sample 03. c Temperature effect on PA signal and d TGADTA curves of
sample 04

the strength of the PA signal is proportional to the gas

density, (t/tc)2 (where t and tc are the total de-excitation
lifetime and collisional lifetime) and varies linearly with
the laser beam intensity (I0). However, when the laser
energy is high, the PA signal varies with respect to I01
and provides significant information on the saturation
behavior [36, 37].
Figure 5b, d shows the effects of the incident laser
energy on the PA signals of samples No. 2 and 4; saturation
is observed at 10.9 and 11.5mJ, respectively.
However, for samples No. 1 and 3, as shown in
Fig. 5a, c, the strength of the PA signal initially
increases with increasing incident laser energy and
maintains linear growth up to 18mJ for sample No. 1
and 8mJ for sample No. 3. Beyond this point, the PA
signal shows saturation behavior. However, sample
No. 3 shows linear growth even at energies higher than
14mJ and needs additional energy to reach the saturation limit.

4.4Scaling offuel efficiency

The results obtained using the PA technique are in excellent
agreement with those using TGADTA and open a new
channel of research for scaling the efficiency of a HEM as
a suitable rocket fuel [38]. The bar diagrams in Fig.6 show
a direct relationship between the strengths of the PA signals
and the residual amounts of HEM samples at their respective thermal decomposition temperatures. It is easy to infer
that the sample with the lowest residual mass and highest
intensity PA signal is a highly efficient fuel, whereas the
samples with large residual masses and low-intensity PA
signals are low-efficiency fuels. We showed experimentally that sample No. 3, i.e., RDX, has the highest fuel
efficiency, with a negligible amount of residual mass, and
picric acid has the lowest fuel efficiency, with the highest residual mass. This approach can help us to test the
potential performances of new HEMs, which are available
in small quantities, in the laboratory. The inset in Fig.6 is

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F. Yehya etal.

Fig.5Energy study of a sample 01, b sample 02, c sample 03, and d sample 04

a magnified version of the bar diagram, and it shows the

small percentage mass losses and corresponding PA signals
for samples No. 1, 2, and 4.
4.5Comparative study ofminimum limits ofdetection

Fig.6PA signal at E =10mJ and residual amounts of samples

0104

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The noise signal of the cavity in the presence of air was

recorded at 23C. The maximum intensity of the noise signal was of the order of 9.5V. We selected an appropriate resonance frequency, at which the incident laser energy
and applied pressure are kept in the linear range, i.e., below
the saturation limit. Moreover, the laser beam diameter was
reduced to 3mm to control noise fluctuations of the PA
signal caused by changes in temperature and pressure. The
observed variation in the signal noise level was of the order
of 3V.
For example, in case of sample No. 1, the strength of the
PA signal was 33mV at an explosive vapor (which mainly
contains NO2) concentration of 2200ppm buffered in air

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Study of thermal decomposition mechanisms and low-level detection of explosives using pulsed
Table1Q-factor, SNR, and low limit of detection of samples
Sample No.

Q-factor

SNR

01
02
03

27
24
32

3.48103
0.057103
31.58103

632 ppbV
38 ppmV
69 ppbV

04

20

0.0263103

84 ppmV

Smin

at a total pressure of 450torr. The estimated signal/noise

ratio (SNR) ratio was of the order of 3.48103, giving a
minimum detection limit Smin of 632 ppbv. The lowest limits of detection for all the samples are presented in Table1.
It should be noted that all the experiments were based on
detection of thermally released NO2 from HEMs. The thermally released NO2 is not pure, because it contains small
quantities of other gases such as NO, N2O, H2O, CO, and
HCN, which can also be detected by the Q-factor of the PA
cell. In the case of pure NO2, the Q-factor of the PA system
is higher than that for impure NO2. The minimum detection limits therefore vary from sample to sample. They are
much higher than the reported values for pure NO2 [25, 27,
37].

5Conclusions
We successfully recorded the time-resolved temperaturedependent PA spectra of RDX, picric acid, 5-chloro-1(4-nitrophenyl)-1H-tetrazole, and 4,6-dinitro-5-(4-nitro1H-imidazol-1-yl)-1H-benzo[d] [13] triazole for the first
time. This technique is based on the detection of free NO2
molecules released by these solid samples during controlled thermal decomposition between 25 and 350C.
The high sensitivity and selectivity of the technique enabled us to record the acoustic fingerprint spectra of all the
samples just above room temperature. The results provided
significant information on the thermal decomposition
mechanisms, which start well below the melting points and
cannot be identified by any other means. In addition, the
thermal decomposition data obtained using PA and TGA
DTA techniques helped us to develop a new low-quantitybased tool for scaling HEM efficiencies as fuels for the first
time. Our experimental findings confirm the presence of a
small thermal peak (from NO2) slightly above room temperature. Moreover, the obtained results also confirm that
the thermal decomposition mechanisms of all the selected
HEM samples involve a multistep decomposition process
and release of free NO2. It was also noted that the generation of NO2 groups at higher temperatures arises from oxidation reactions and is observed for samples that contain
nitrogen in their ring structures. The minimum detection

levels for the four target explosives were in the range from
38 ppmv to 69 ppbv.
Acknowledgments We express our sincere thanks to Prof. F. Tittel
and reviewers for their critical comments to improve the quality of
the manuscript. We also express our special thanks to Dr. G. Manoj
Kumar, Faculty, ACRHEM for extending help in proof reading and
valuable suggestions for modifying the text. We gratefully acknowledge the Department of Science and Technology (SERC Project,
No: SR/S2/LOP-13/03) and Defense Research Development Organization, India, for their partial financial support. One of the authors,
F. Yehya, gratefully acknowledges ACRHEM, DRDO, Ministry of
Defense, Government of India for partial financial support.
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of interest It is to be noted that Our Centre named ACRHEM is an integrated part of the University of Hyderabad and funded
by Ministry of Defense, Government of India, vide Project No.
DRDO/02/0201/2011/00060 Phase-II, dated June 1, 2011. It has no
conflict of interest.

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