14N Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance Study of Polymorphism in Trinitrotoluene Samples Obtained from Old Ordnances

• Published in: Applied magnetic resonance Vol. 36; no. 1; pp. 115 - 120
• Main Authors: Lužnik, Janko, Pirnat, Janez, Trontelj, Zvonko, Apih, Tomaž, Gregorovič, Alan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 01.11.2009; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Atoms and Molecules in Strong Fields; Electric fields; Explosives; Explosives detection; Laser Matter Interaction; Nitrogen; Nuclear quadrupole resonance; Organic Chemistry; Physical Chemistry; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Polymorphism; Quadrupoles; Solid State Physics; Spectroscopy/Spectrometry; Spectrum analysis; Temperature; Trinitrotoluene; Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance Signal; Orthorhombic Modification; Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance Frequency; Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance Spectrum; Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance
• ISSN: 0937-9347; 1613-7507
• DOI: 10.1007/s00723-009-0011-9

The field application of a 14 N nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) detector needed for the detection of different explosives, including trinitrotoluene (TNT), requires the examination of the distribution of 14 N NQR lines stemming from the monoclinic and/or orthorhombic modifications of TNT, as well as from a mixture of both. In this work, 30 different TNT samples up to 70 years old were measured. The main result of this study is that the measured 14 N NQR spectrum is strongly influenced by the environmental conditions to which the explosive was subject during its history.