<div>This work investigates several uses of additive manufacturing to meet modern security-related needs. All energetic materials when integrated in a practical system require an ignition device, e.g. a bridgewire or spark gap igniter, which is traditionally fabricated from metal components. A conductive polymer, polyaniline,</div><div>was chosen to create metal-free spark gap igniters in a process that lends itself well to large-scale manufacturing. The igniters proved consistent in terms of breakdown</div><div>voltage, as well as their effectiveness in igniting nanothermite, a representative energetic material. This work also establishes a simple and effective approach suitable for the precise material deposition of CL-20. This is relevant for the development of trace detection calibration standards. This work shows that CL-20 is compatible with inkjet</div><div>printing for this purpose. Furthermore, the need to secure sensitive information that is stored locally on electronic devices led to the study of the use of confined nanothermite to damage substrates used in electronics. The maximum thickness of PCB that permitted destruction with repeatable results was investigated o suggest a baseline for future system integration and production. In addition, the stress of the board was modeled using measured thrust data. In brief, this work has proven that the use of additive manufacturing with energetic materials is both a possible and effective means to secure devices, should a device containing sensitive material be unintentionally misplaced.</div>

<p>This thesis presents work on two major areas of research. The first area of research involves the use of a dual-nozzle piezoelectric inkjet printing system to print bilayer aluminum bismuth (III) oxide nanothermite samples. The combinatorial printing method allows for separate fuel and oxidizer inks to be printed adjacent to each other at prescribed offset distances. The effect of the bilayer thickness on the burning rate of the samples is investigated using high-speed imaging. Analysis of the burning rate data revealed that there is no statistically significant relationship between these two parameters. This result was used to determine the dominant processes that control the propagation rate in nanothermite systems. It was concluded that convective processes dominate the burning rate rather than diffusive processes. The second area of research involved synthesizing inks suitable for inkjet printing using two promising high nitrogen energetic materials called BTATz and DAATO_3.5. The performance of the developed inks was characterized using four experiments. The thermal stability and exothermic behavior of the inks were determined using DSC and TGA analysis. The results revealed that the inks are more thermally stable than the base materials. The inks were used to print lines that were subsequently used to determine burning rates. DAATO_3.5 samples were determined to have faster burning rates than BTATz. Closed pressure bomb experiments were conducted to determine the gas producing capability of the high nitrogen inks. BTATz samples showed better performance in terms of peak static pressures and pressurization rates. 3D printed microthrusters were developed to test the thrust performance of the inks. Peak thrust, total impulse, and specific impulse values are reported and were determined to be suitable for use with Class 1 micro-spacecraft. Finally, a microthruster array prototype was developed to demonstrate the capability to use additive manufacturing to create high packing density arrays.</p>

<p>Raman spectroscopy is a molecular spectroscopy technique that uses monochromatic light to provide a fingerprint to identify structural components and chemical composition. Depending on the changes in the unit-cell parameters and volume under the application of stress and temperature, the Raman spectrum undergoes changes in the wavenumber of Raman-active modes that allow identification of sample characteristics. Due to the various advantage of mechanical Raman spectroscopy (MRS), the use of this technique in the characterization and modeling of chemical changes under stress and temperature have gained popularity. </p> <p> Quantitative information regarding the local behavior of interfaces in an inhomogeneous material during shock loading is limited due to challenges associated with time and spatial resolution. Recently, we have extended the use of MRS to high-strain rate experiments to capture the local thermomechanical response of mock energetic material and obtain material properties during shock wave propagation. This was achieved by developing a novel method for <i>in‑situ</i> measurement of the thermo‑mechanical response from mock energetic materials in a time‑resolved manner with 5 ns resolution providing an estimation on local pressure, temperature, strain rate, and local shock viscosity. The results show the solid to liquid phase transition of sucrose under shock compression. The viscous behavior of the binder was also characterized through measurement of shock viscosity at strain rates higher than 10⁶/s using microsphere impact experiments.</p> <p> This technique was further extended to perform Raman spectral imaging over a microscale domain of the sample with a nano-second resolution. This was achieved by developing a laser-array Raman spectral imaging technique where simultaneous deconvolution of Raman spectra over the sample domain was achieved and Raman spectral image was reconstructed on post-processing. We developed a Raman spectral imaging system using a laser array and analysis was performed over the interface of sucrose crystals bonded using an epoxy binder. This study provides the Raman spectra over the microstructure domain which enabled the detection of localized melting under shock compression. The distribution of shock pressure and temperature over the microstructure was obtained using mechanical Raman analysis. The study shows the effects of an actual interface on the propagation of shock waves where a higher dissipation of shock energy was observed compared to an ideal interface. This increase in shock dissipation is accompanied by a decrease in both the maximum temperature, as well as the maximum pressure within the microstructure during shock wave propagation.</p>