  The kinetics of carbon condensation, or carbon clustering, in detonation of
carbon-rich high explosives is modeled by solving a system of rate equations
for concentrations of carbon particles. Unlike previous efforts, the rate
equations account not only for the aggregation of particles, but also for their
fragmentation in a thermodynamically consistent manner. Numerical simulations
are performed, yielding the distribution of particle concentrations as a
function of time. In addition to that, analytical expressions are obtained for
all the distinct steps and regimes of the condensation kinetics, which
facilitates the analysis of the numerical results and allows one to study the
sensitivity of the kinetic behavior to the variation of system parameters. The
latter is important because the numerical values of many parameters are not
reliably known at present. The theory of the kinetics of first-order phase
transitions is found adequate to describe the general kinetic trends of carbon
condensation, as described by the rate equations. Such physical phenomena and
processes as the coagulation, nucleation, growth, and Ostwald ripening are
observed and their dependence on various system parameters is studied and
reported. It is believed that the present work will become useful when
analyzing the present and future results for the kinetics of carbon
condensation, obtained from experiments or atomistic simulations.
