The Effect of the Energetic Additive Coated MgH2 on the Power of Emulsion Explosives Sensitized by Glass Microballoons

Abstract

Traditional emulsion explosives, in spite of excellent water resistance, safe handling and good storage performance, have low power problems which seriously hinders their use. In order to improve the power of emulsion explosives, a hydrogen based emulsion explosive was devised. Scanning electron microscope pictures and experimental storage results show that the coating effect and stability of coated magnesium hydride (MgH2) are very good. The power of an emulsion explosive sensitized by glass microballoons was significantly increased (24.30 mm compression of lead block) after adding coated MgH2, compared to only 16.10 mm compression when not added. Thus emulsion explosives with coated MgH2 as an energetic additive have many potential applications.

The Effect of the Hydrogen Containing Material TiH2on the Detonation Characteristics of Emulsion Explosives

“…Table 6 shows that compared to GMs sensitized emulsion explosives, the shock wave attenuation time q, the shock wave specific impulse I and the shock wave total energy E of GMs-TiH 2 sensitized emulsion explosives in the underwater explosion experiments are increased 87.29 %, 18.50 % and 9.69 %, respectively. The experimental results of brisance of two kinds of emulsion explosives are somewhat in accordance with the mechanical impulse mechanism of brisance for explosives, which deems that the brisance parameter is related not only to the detonation pressure but also the shock wave duration [10]. Therefore, the reasons for the high brisance of the GM-TiH 2 sensitized emulsion explosives may be attributed to be the slower attenuation and the higher total energy of the shock waves.…”

“…In the early-stage, the MgH 2 powders were added to emulsion explosives as chemical sensitizers, and they would react with the emulsion matrix to produce gas bubbles to sensitize the emulsion matrix. The experiments results showed that MgH 2 powders could improve the explosion power [9,10] and the pressure-resisting ability [11][12][13] of emulsion explosives remarkably. But MgH 2 sensitized emulsion explosives may also have problems of foaming and safety for the hydrogen bubbles.…”

“…In our previous research, we developed a new kind of high-power emulsion explosives sensitized by hydrogen containing material MgH 2 [9][10][11][12][13]. In the early-stage, the MgH 2 powders were added to emulsion explosives as chemical sensitizers, and they would react with the emulsion matrix to produce gas bubbles to sensitize the emulsion matrix.…”

“…But MgH 2 sensitized emulsion explosives may also have problems of foaming and safety for the hydrogen bubbles. In order to solve these problems, MgH 2 powders were coated with water proof materials by gel-sol technology and then included in the emulsion matrix along with GMs [10], and the coated MgH 2 powders and the GMs played the roles of sensitizers and energetic additives, respectively. However, the method of coating also existed many problems in spite of avoiding the chemical foaming effects of MgH 2 powders, for example, the coating technology was a bit complicated and the MgH 2 powders may be oxidized during the coating process.…”

Effects of Micro‐Encapsulation Treatment on the Thermal Safety of High Energy Emulsion Explosives with Boron Powders

“…Energetic additives encapsulation is an effective way to improve the safety of high energy explosives, and various methods for coating energetic materials had been developed, including sol‐gel coating [15], crystal coating [16], spray drying coating [17] and in‐situ polymerization coating [18, 19]. However, there were many problems of traditional coating methods in ensuring the stability and the compatibility of energetic additives in emulsion explosives, for instance, poor coating effect and low strength of coating membrane [20].…”