Stability of explosives under continued laser pulse exposure

Samples of trinitrotoluene (TNT) and erythritol tetranitrate (ETN) were exposed to nanosecond pulses from a tunable laser source across 90 minutes. During this continued laser pulse exposure, the samples of TNT underwent heavy degradation while the samples of ETN were able to resist high energy densities without visible alteration. A degradation pathway involving a nitro-nitrite rearrangement is suggested for the TNT, which sees radical production result in carbon 'char' formation in the explosive, despite there being no signs of bulk or surface melting. The formation of this carbon-explosive mixture and its implications towards the safety of extended exposure laser sensing techniques is discussed.