Theft-Safe Explosive Mixtures Based on Hydrogen Peroxide: Study of Properties and Built-In Self-Deactivation Kinetics

Abstract

The current focus on both environmental and general safety is an important issue in the field of explosives. As such, environmentally-friendly explosives, based on hydrogen peroxide (HTP) as an oxidising agent, are of significant interest. These explosives can be designed to undergo self-deactivation, denying access to them by any unlawful third parties that may attempt scavenging blasting sites for any residual energetic materials. Such deactivation also improves blasting safety, as, after a set time, misfired charges no longer pose any explosive threat. In this work, we have designed HTP-based explosive formulations that undergo deactivation after approximately 12 h. To this effect, Al powders were used both as fuels and HTP decomposition promoters. The shock wave parameters and ability to perform mechanical work of the proposed explosive formulations are comparable to those of dynamites and bulk emulsion explosives, and the details of the changes of these parameters over time are also reported.

Following the Decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide in On-Site Mixture Explosives: Study of the Effect of the Auxiliary Oxidising Agent and Binder

“…Our initial work [ 30 ] on OSM explosives relied on utilising commercially available ammonium nitrate (AN) as the auxiliary oxidising agent. In this work, we included the highly-porous ammonium nitrate prills (UltrAN) in our investigations for comparison ( Figure 2 a).…”

“…This quarter-time was chosen instead of the more commonly employed reaction half-time, due to both the limited decay of hydrogen peroxide during the experiments and to avoid confusion surrounding a strictly kinetic parameter. Our initial work [30] on OSM explosives relied on utilising commercially available ammonium nitrate (AN) as the auxiliary oxidising agent. In this work, we included the highly-porous ammonium nitrate prills (UltrAN) in our investigations for comparison (Figure 2a).…”

“…In our previous work, we investigated the impact of the addition of varied amounts and types of Al powders on both the energetic performance of the OSM EXs and on the decomposition dynamics of HTP used in their formulations [ 30 ]. That work was the first study to report on the decomposition dynamics of HTP in an EX formulation.…”