The paper describes the investigations related to the fabrication and characterization of two new plastic pyrotechnic compositions using solvent-free polyurea as binder. These solvent-free polyurea binders allow wet or dry pressing of the pyrotechnic compositions. The rubbery texture of the polyurea binders minimize the risks associated to the dry pressing of other brittle binders. A comparative theoretical and experimental study between these new types of binders and a conventional binder has been performed, in order to establish the improvements that could be brought to the pyrotechnic compositions, in terms of safety and performance.

High explosive hydro forming (HEHF) is a suitable technique for large metal plate forming. Manufacturing stages of such a part requires an adapted design of explosive charge configurations to define the mechanical loading exerted on the part. This mechanical loading remains challenging to be experimentally determined but necessary for predictive numerical simulation in the design of parts to form. Providing that the actual mechanical impulse would allow the neglecting of the modelling of the detonation stage, this considerably increases the computational time. The present work proposes an experimental method for obtaining the exerted mechanical loading by HEHF on the part to form. It relies on the development of low-cost sensor based on a polyvinyliden fluorid (PVDF) gauge. In addition to it, an analytical approach based on shock physics is proposed for the sensor signal interpretation. The method considers the multi-layer aspect of the sensor and its intrusiveness with respect to waves propagation. Measurements were repeated to assess their relevance and the reproducibility by using steel and aluminium anvils in HEHF. Numerical modelling in 2D plane geometry of the experiments was performed with two commercial hydrocodes. The comparison of mechanical impulses shows an agreement in terms of chronology but a noticeable difference in terms of amplitude, explained by mesh size and numerical diffusion.