Explosive Strength and Impact Sensitivity of Several PBXs Based on Attractive Cyclic Nitramines

Abstract

Plastic explosives based on different cyclic nitramines with different polymeric matrices were prepared and studied. The used polymeric matrices were fabricated on the basis of polyisobutylene (PIB), acrylonitrile‐butadiene rubber (ABR), Viton A, and polydimethyl‐siloxane as binders, whereas the nitramines named RDX (1,3,5‐trinitroperhydro‐1,3,5‐triazine), β‐HMX (β‐1,3,5,7‐tetranitro‐1,3,5,7‐tetrazocine), BCHMX (cis‐1,3,4,6‐tetranitrooctahydroimidazo‐[4,5‐d]imidazole) and ε‐HNIW (ε‐2,4,6,8,10,12‐hexanitro‐2,4,6,8,10,12‐hexaazaisowurtzitane) were used as explosive fillers. Commercial Semtex 10, based on pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), was used for comparison. Impact sensitivity, loading density, ρ, detonation velocity, D, and relative explosive strength (RS) measured by ballistic mortar were determined. It was concluded that plastic BCHMX based on Viton A or PIB‐matrix exhibits higher RS compared with PBXs based on RDX and HMX. Correlations between RS and the impact sensitivity, the ρD2 term and the square of the detonation velocity were studied and discussed. The results confirm the well‐known fact that increasing the performance is usually accompanied by an increase in the sensitivity of the explosives. In this connection, Viton A enables achieving a high RS, but with a relatively high sensitivity of the PBXs, whereas the polydimethyl‐siloxane matrix should perhaps give PBXs with optimum explosive strength and sensitivity parameters.

A Modified Penetration Model for Copper-Tungsten Shaped Charge Jet with Non-Uniform Density Distribution

“…The charge casings were steel with an average wall thickness of 4.5 mm. Regarding the literature, several types of plastic explosives can be used for filling the charge cases, such as the French plastic explosive named Formex P1 [17] and the American plastic explosive Composition C4 [18][19]. Selection of the plastic explosive was based on performance and sensitivity to different stimuli [20][21][22].…”

“…point to the target surface as explained in Section 1. Table 4 presents the penetration depth calculated using various methods, including the modified virtual origin model (Equation 19) from Section 2, the classic V.O. model, the numerical simulation and the experimental depth of penetration, as well as the penetration reduction due to the density gradient (deficit/reduction).…”

Preparation and Properties of RDX-Nitrocellulose Microspheres

“…Previous research has shown that reducing the size of solid filler particles can solve these problems and also enhance the burning rate of propellants [11][12][13][14]. In addition, the mechanical sensitivity of CMDBs can be decreased if the particles coated with some binders [15][16][17][18]. Nitrocellulose (NC) is necessary for the energy and mechanical properties of double-base propellants.…”

Application of cis-1,3,4,6-Tetranitrooctahydroimidazo-[4,5d] Imidazole (BCHMX) in EPX-1 Explosive

“…BCHMX had been studied as an energetic filler bonded by C-4 matrix 5,6 . Plastic bonded explosives based on BCHMX and fluorinated binders have been studied [7][8][9] . Also replacement of PETN by BCHMX in SEMTEX10 has been investigated 10 .…”