AN OVERVIEW OF ENERGETIC MATERIALS RESEARCH AT PURDUE UNIVERSITY

Purdue University has a seventy-year history of energetic materials research, especially in the area of rocket propellants. Building on this rich history and unique facilities such as Zucrow Laboratories and the Birck Nanocenter, cutting edge research is being pursued in nearly all areas for energetic materials. In this talk I will present a brief overview of the propellant, explosives, and pyrotechnic research that is ongoing at Purdue. This will include topics including nanoscale energetics, microenergetics, printing of energetics, explosive detection, micro and mesoscale simulation, and advanced diagnostics.

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DR. STEVEN F. SON, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, conducts experimental and theoretical aspects of the combustion of energetic materials, microscale combustion, nanoscale energetic composites, combustion synthesis and coal combustion. A J. R. Oppenheimer Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1993-1996, he joined the National Laboratory as a Technical Staff Member and Project Leader from 1996-2005. He has presented invited lectures at several research institutions, and at meetings of the Material Research Society (MRS), American Physical Society (APS), International Pyrotechnics Seminar, and Gordon Research Conferences. Dr. Son is currently an Associate Editor of the AIAA's Journal of Propulsion and Power.