SPEED is an international network comprising two leading Spanish research institutions, UC3M and IMDEA, and two Brazilian universities, UFSM and UFRGS, all united by a shared commitment to advancing fundamental science. This multidisciplinary research effort focuses on investigating shockinduced ignition and deflagration of Energetic Materials, with applications in solid propellants for next-generation aerospace transportation. A synergistic strategy, leveraging the strengths and expertise of the four research groups involved, has been carefully designed to maximize the potential of preexisting collaborations within the research network, aiming to make a significant impact on testing, simulating, and designing a new generation of energyefficient and environmentally friendly Solid Propellants.

IMDEA offers extensive expertise in chemical processing, materials engineering, thermodynamics, and microstructural analysis, delivering highresolution multiscale characterization of Energetic Materials under diverse loading conditions. The chemical thermodynamic response of the reactive solids will be assessed using differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry to characterize key properties, including thermal stability, phase transitions, decomposition behavior, and reaction kinetics. These experiments are crucial for obtaining fundamental physical properties of the materials and refining experimental protocols to ensure controlled impact testing. The microstructural response of the materials will be examined before and after hypervelocity testing at UC3M using optical microscopy, electron microscopy, and X-ray computed tomography. X-ray tomography will be conducted with the state-of-the-art equipment at IMDEA, funded with 1.5M through the 2021 Equipamiento Científico-Técnico call by the Ministerio de Ciencia,

Innovación y Universidades. This equipment will also be used for in-situ X-ray tomography during quasi-static tests, enabling time-resolved visualization of the microstructural evolution of Energetic Materials during loading. This represents a key original outcome of SPEED, leveraging one of Spain’s most advanced experimental facilities in materials engineering. The microstructural analysis will focus on the morphology and topology of the material’s constituents, including the crystallographic structure, size, shape, and orientation of the energetic crystals. Additionally, the analysis will characterize the size, shape, and spatial distribution of planar and volumetric defects, providing detailed insights into their distribution within the material. The data obtained from the samples before mechanical testing will be used by UFSM and UFRGS to develop and calibrate multiscale and multiphysics, microstructurally-informed constitutive theories and computational models for Energetic Materials. Furthermore, the microstructural analysis of in-situ tests and post-mortem samples will allow for tracking microstructural evolution during testing, helping to validate both the constitutive models and finite element simulations of hypervelocity impact tests. This project will generate a data set of unprecedented magnitude in the field of microstructural characterization