Deflagration to detonation experiments in granular HMX

An environmental issue has arisen with M-72 malfunction on anti-tank ranges because many of these rockets break into pieces without exploding on impact, dispersing their energetic materials content on the ground surface and exposing them to transport by infiltration of rainfall and snowmelt. A case study (1998--2005) at Arnhem Anti-Tank Range (Garrison Valcartier, Canada, in operation since the 1970s) revealed octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX) contamination and traces of 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) in ground water at varying concentrations, with all detected HMX concentrations below the USEPA guideline for drinking water of 400 microg L(-1). An HMX mass balance on a transect perpendicular to ground water flow, about 300 m downgradient of the impact area, indicated an HMX flux of about 3 g d(-1) (0.7-1 kg yr(-1), 2005). The HMX mass in the impact area on the sand terrace was estimated at 7 to 10 kg (in 2005). The annual dissolved HMX flux represents about 10% of the source. The dissolved HMX plume in ground water consisted of a series of slugs, generated at each significant infiltration event. HMX is weakly retarded by sorption and is neither biotransformed nor mineralized under the aerobic conditions of the aquifer. TNT and RDX exceeded the USEPA guideline (2 microg L(-1) RDX and 1 microg L(-1) TNT) in three and two samples, respectively. The TNT plume was discontinuous because this compound was not always present at the ground surface. TNT is biotransformed, weakly sorbed, and not mineralized. In two wells, perchlorate associated with the propellant was found at concentrations above the Health Canada preliminary guideline of 6 microg L(-1) near the firing position.

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“…††Determined by Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller (BET) surface area analysis as described in Burnside et al (1997)…”

Section: Laboratory Results On the Fate Of Energetic Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…§ Lewis (2006) Burnside et al (1997). 1990) and by the adsorption of TNT to specifi c components or functional groups of organic matter (Eriksson et al, 2004), which would question a comparison of adsorption data using diff erent organic matter sources.…”

Section: Initial Hmx or Tnt Massmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavior of Energetic Materials in Ground Water at an Anti‐Tank Range

et al. 2009

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“…The spatial resolution is limited to the frequency of the interference signal with this method due to the calculation of the detonation front relying on each zero-crossing. Higher spatial resolution can be obtained using the quadrature method used in past work [6]. The microwave interferometer outputs the interference signal and a signal that is shifted 90 degrees from the interference signal.…”

Section: Microwave Interferometry Techniquementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Microwave interferometry has been previously used to characterize ideal explosives in deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT) experiments [4]. The same technique has been applied here to non-ideal explosives on a smallscale where the detonation was expected to fail.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detonation failure characterization of non-ideal explosives

Janesheski

Groven

Son

2012

AIP Conference Proceedings

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“…It was shown in similar experiments with reactive materials that ions from the chemical reactions further contribute to microwave reflections [9]. This technique has also been used to study deflagration-to-detonation and shock-to-detonation processes in explosives [10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detonation Performance Characterization of a Novel CL‐20 Cocrystal Using Microwave Interferometry

Vuppuluri

Samuels²,

Caflin³

et al. 2017

Propellants Explo Pyrotec

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Development of novel energetic materials is a significant challenge. Cocrystallization has been explored as another route to development of novel materials. However, very little characterization of detonation performance has been performed for these energetic cocrystals. A major challenge for performing detonation velocity measurements with cocrystals is that typical measurement techniques require hundreds of grams to kilograms of material, an amount that exceeds the entire supply of many cocrystals. In this work, small-scale detonation velocity measurements using about 1.2 g of material per test employing microwave interferometry are presented and discussed for a novel cocrystal of 1-methyl-3,5-dinitro-1,2,4-triazole (MDNT) and hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane (CL-20) in a 1 : 1 molar ratio and compared to a physical mixture of MDNT and CL-20 in the same molar ratio. The results are compared with detonation velocity measurements with cyclotetramethylene tetranitr-amine (HMX), which provide validation of the technique and further comparison of the results. With this technique, detonation velocity differences as low as 100 m/s are resolvable. The MDNT/CL-20 cocrystal is observed to detonate over 500 m/s faster than the physical mix and over 600 m/s faster than HMX at the same charge density which is held constant in this work. The enthalpy of formation of the MDNT/CL-20 cocrystal was also measured. Using this, the detonation velocity of the cocrystal was calculated using thermochemistry to be 230 m/s faster than that of the physical mixture of MDNT and CL-20 in the same molar ratio as is contained within the cocrystal at a charge density of 1.4 g/cm 3 . The higher detonation velocity of the cocrystal (both measured and predicted) compared to the physical mixture is likely attributable to bonding energy contained within the cocrystal and the arrangement of the coformers within the cocrystal.Keywords: cocrystal · detonation · microwave interferometry [a] V.

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Deflagration to detonation experiments in granular HMX

Cited by 4 publications

References 5 publications

Behavior of Energetic Materials in Ground Water at an Anti‐Tank Range

Behavior of Energetic Materials in Ground Water at an Anti‐Tank Range

Detonation failure characterization of non-ideal explosives

Detonation Performance Characterization of a Novel CL‐20 Cocrystal Using Microwave Interferometry

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