Anisotropic strength behavior of single-crystal TATB

High-rate strength behavior plays an important role in the shock initiation of high explosives, with plastic deformation serving to localize heat into hot spots and as a mechanochemical means to enhance reactivity. Recent simulations predict that detonation-like shocks produce highly reactive nanoscale shear bands in the layered crystalline explosive TATB (1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene), but the thresholds leading to this response are poorly understood. We utilize molecular dynamics (MD) to simulate the high-rate compressive stress-strain response of TATB, with a focus on understanding flow behavior. The dependence of strength on pressure and loading axis (crystal orientation) is explored. The deformation mechanisms fall broadly into two categories, with compression along crystal layers activating a buckling/twinning mode and compression normal to the layers producing nanoscale shear bands. Despite the complexity of the underlying mechanisms, the crystal exhibits relatively straightforward stress-strain curves. Most of the crystal orientations studied show rapid strain softening following the onset of yielding, which settles to a steady flow state. Trajectories are analyzed using five metrics for local states and structural order, but most of these metrics yield similar distributions for these deformation mechanisms. On the other hand, a recently proposed measure of intramolecular strain energy is found to most cleanly distinguish between these mechanisms, while also providing a plausible connection with mechanochemically accelerated decomposition kinetics. Localization of intramolecular strain energy is found to depend strongly on crystal orientation and pressure.