HNS/Teflon, A New Heat Resistant Explosive

Abstract

Naval O r d n a n c e Laboratory(U-) HNS/Teflon ( 9 0 / 1 0 ) i s a new p r e s s e d e x p l o s i v e developed f o r use i n t h e APOLLO program. The major a d v a n t a g e s of HlS/Teflon a r e i t s , (1) e x c e l l e n t t h e r m a l s t a b i l i t y a t e l e v a t e d t e m p e r a t u r e s (2) s u p e r i o r r e s i s t a n c e t o s u b l i m a t i o n at h i g h t e m p e r a t u r e s and low p r e s s u r e s and ( 3 ) ease of molding powder p r e p a r a t i o n , p r e s s i n g and machining.T h e impact s e n s i t i v i t y o f HIS/Teflon i s between t h a t of Comp B and Comp A-3 w h i l e i t s e x p l o s i v e performance is a b o u t t h e same as TBT. Under t h e severe e n v i r o n m e n t a l c o n d i t i o n s of t h e moon's s u r f a c e , t h i s e x p l o s i v e s u c c e s s f u l l y performed i t s i n t e n d e d f u n c t i o nof g e n e r a t i n g s e i s m i c waves i n t h e APOLLO ALSEP and LSPE e x p e r i m e n t s . e i n t h e a c t i v e s e i s m i c e x p e r i m e n t s in b o t h t h e APOLLO A c t i v e Lunar S e i s m i c Experiments Peckege (ALSEP) and t h e Lunar S e i s m i c P r o f i l i n g Experiments (LSPE). T h i s r e p o r t d e s c r i b e s t h e dzvelopment, t e s t i n g , p r o p e r t i e s and performance of HNS/Teflon c h a r g e s and s h o u l d be of i n t e r e s t t c i e n g i n e e r s and s c i e n t i s t s who r e q u i r e e x p l o s i v e s t h a t most w i t h s t a n d h o s t i l e envircnmeqts.(U) HIS i s one o f a s e r i e s o f h e a t -r e s i s t a n t e x p l o s i v e s s y n t h e s i z e d a t t h e Neval Ordnance L a b o r a t o r y , as p a r t of a n a c t i v e and c o n t i n u i n g program w i t h t h e o b j e c t i v e o f . s t u d y i n g t h e c h e m i s t r y of n i t r o com-