Structure of crystal defects in damaged RDX as revealed by an AFM

An atomic force microscope (AFM) was employed to reveal the structure of defects produced in single crystals of cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX), damaged either by indentation, heat or underwater shock. In general, all of these stimuli produced dislocation pits, cracks, fissures and mosaics, however, the details were different. Indentation generated a large number of triangular dislocation pits, which in their turn produced fissures, cracks and holes by coalescing. Heat produced fine parallel cracks. Slivers as thin as sixty molecules across were observed. Shock caused the crystal to become a three-dimensional mosaic structure, 100–500 nm in size, produced by intensive cleavage and delamination. In all cases very fine particles, 20–500 nm in size, were ejected onto the surface as debris from the formation of defects. The AFM has revealed for the first time un-etched dislocation pits in their pristine condition, so that their internal structure could be investigated. A dislocation density of 106 cm−2 ha...