Shock tube measurement of NO time-histories in nitromethane pyrolysis using a quantum cascade laser at 5.26 µm

Abstract The pyrolysis of nitromethane, CH3NO2, was studied at ∼3.5 atm and 1013 K–1418 K in a heated shock tube by measuring the key product nitric oxide (NO) using mid-infrared laser absorption spectroscopy. We used a quantum cascade laser (QCL) at 5.26 µm to exploit the strong NO absorption at 1900.08 cm−1. With the NO absorption cross-section data characterized at 1006 K–1789 K and 2.7 atm–3.5 atm behind reflected shock waves, we measured the NO concentration time-histories during the pyrolysis of nitromethane at two different concentrations (1.05% and 0.6%). The absorption interference from other major products such as CO and H2O was analyzed to be negligible, leading to an interference-free NO diagnostic in nitromethane pyrolysis. A recent kinetic model of Shang et al. (2019) was adopted to interpret the shock tube data. All the NO time-histories measured over the entire temperature range 1013 K–1418 K were well-predicted by this model in terms of the initial NO formation rate and the final plateau level. The rate-of-production, sensitivity, and reaction flux analyses were performed to identify four important reactions (CH3NO2 = CH3 + NO2, CH3NO2 ↔ CH3ONO = CH3O + NO, CH3 + NO2 = CH3O + NO, and NO2 + H = NO + OH) that determine the NO formation during CH3NO2 pyrolysis. The satisfactory agreement between the simulation and shock tube/laser absorption measurement further validated the kinetic mechanism of nitromethane decomposition. The developed mid-infrared NO absorption sensor provides a promising diagnostic tool for studying fuel-nitrogen chemical kinetics in the shock tube experiments.