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Tag Archives: explosives

Thin explosive films provide snapshot of how detonations start

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Using thin films — no more than a few pieces of notebook paper thick — of a common explosive chemical, researchers from Sandia National Laboratories studied how small-scale explosions start and grow. Sandia is the only lab in the U.S. that can make such detonatable thin films. These experiments advanced fundamental knowledge […]

Terrorist, timed scenarios challenge bomb squads at Sandia’s Robot Rodeo

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Bomb squad teams from New Mexico and beyond are converging at Sandia National Laboratories for a five-day Robot Rodeo and Capability Exercise where emergency preparedness skills will be put to the test. Twelve challenges for 10 military and civilian teams have been set up for the 13th annual event that provides opportunities […]

From Albuquerque to Afghanistan and back again

Sandia veteran finds niche in explosives group that helped develop downrange technology ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Located between vastly dry desert terrain to one side and beautifully lush terrain — known as the “Green Zone” — to the other, a 20-year-old U.S. Marine found himself in the town of Sangin, one of the deadliest places in Afghanistan. […]

Fragment tracking: insights into what happens in explosions

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A bang and a swirl of dust from detonating 9 pounds of plastic explosive in the desert signaled the beginning of tests that — thanks to advances in high-speed cameras, imaging techniques and computer modeling — will help Sandia National Laboratories researchers study fragmenting explosives in ways that weren’t possible before. “The […]

Sandia explosives legend Paul Cooper hangs up his teaching hat

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Paul Cooper, one of the world’s foremost explosives experts, retired from Sandia National Laboratories more than a decade ago but continued his labor of love, teaching a new generation of engineers everything they needed to know about blowing things up. Cooper taught explosives safety and technology to about 1,000 people at Sandia […]